


1979/1998/2022(?)

by Go_get_Jakes_gun



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: AU, And a Hufflepuff, Drama, Gryffindors - Freeform, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt and comfort, Let's actually pretend the Cursed Child never happened, Like, Not Canon Compliant, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Sibling drama, Slytherins, Time Travel, Time-Turners, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?, at all, badly written time travel, takes place in 1990
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-06-28 20:01:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15714099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Go_get_Jakes_gun/pseuds/Go_get_Jakes_gun
Summary: In the year 2022, the Dark Lord's daughter, Delphini, hatches a plan to not only bring her father back to life, but have wizards rule over the world, with muggles and muggleborns as their slaves.Thankfully, Portraitdore (because OF COURSE even as a portrait, Dumbledore is 'bloody brilliant!') has devised a plan to correct this offshoot timeline, involving three generations of the wizarding worlds' best and brightest:The Marauders' GenerationThe Golden Trios' GenerationAnd the Descendants' GenerationMade up of 5 Slytherins, 12 Gryffindors and a Hufflepuff, this is truly one hell of a dream team.





	1. Chapter 1

It was a bright February morning in 2022 when Minerva felt it. A rift, almost as though something had changed.

 

She glanced helplessly at the portrait of Dumbledore that she had moved to the wall opposite her desk upon assuming office.

 

“Minerva,” he rasped. “Minerva, you must act quickly. Dark happenings are afoot.”

 

“What was that, Albus?” she frowned.

 

“That, my dear, was the universe being split in order for it to be duplicated.”

 

McGonnagal frowned. That was the weirdest thing that she had ever heard, and she worked at a fucking school for young witches and wizards. “I beg your pardon?”

 

“There is no time to explain, my dear. Just reach into the compartment behind Phineas. I’ve kept a spare time-turner in there~”

 

“ _What!?_ ~”

 

“In the event of an emergency. Do not worry, it is preset. Just take me with you and follow my instructions word for word.”

 

“Alright,” the man may sound completely nuts, but there was no denying that Albus Dumbledore was a genius.

 

.

 

Albus Severus Potter had been on his way to Potions Class, like any other normal Fifth Year, when suddenly he was standing in what looked like a beat-down shack. He looked around. He saw James, Lily, Teddy (which was odd because Teddy didn’t even go to Hogwarts anymore), Scorpius, Rose, Hugo… and then a bunch of strange people, one of whom looked rather like him. He would’ve guessed it were his father, except for the fact that his father was most _definitely_ not seventeen-eighteenish.

 

And there, in the middle of it all, stood Headmistress McGonnagal.

 

“Ma’am, why are we here? Who are they?” Scorpius asked.

 

“More importantly, what am _I_ doing here? The last time that I checked, I was no longer in school,” Teddy rolled his eyes.

 

“You are here, because a great tragedy has arisen. The Dark Lord had a daughter,” McGonnagal began.

 

“ _What_!?” five members of the party that looked suspiciously like his, his cousins’ and his best-friends’ parents shrieked.

 

“Great, Malfoy,” him-look-alike growled. “Bloody great. This _is_ what you wanted, isn’t it?”

 

“What? Why would I want that?” Scorpius replied, confused before the other Malfoy-look-alike could answer.

 

“I wasn’t talking to him~ who are you?” Harry frowned.

 

“I believe that some introductions are in order. First, I would like you to split up into your respective years. 1979 can stand over there,” she gestured. “Then 1998, and 2022.”

 

“ _What_!?” they all shrieked.

 

“Just do it. It will all make sense later.”

 

Grudgingly they all complied, but Albus noticed that the guy that looked like a younger version of one of his namesake’s and another raven-haired guy kept a little to the side in their group.

 

“Firstly, I would like you to know that Voldemort’s daughter used a time-turner to get not only her father, but _Gellert Grindelwald_ himself to restructure a parallel timeline in which wizards rule and muggleborns and muggles alike are treated like slaves,” there were gasps. “The only way to solve this issue, it would seem, were to take the best and brightest from three separate generations and get them to fight it. Though I must admit that I do not know why on earth Dumbledore chose you six,” she frowned in the direction of the group from 1979. “Grindelwald wasn’t a problem for you, he was a problem for Mr. Scamander’s generation… oh well, I suppose that Dumbledore works in mysterious ways. And if he thinks that you six are needed then who are we to question his authority?”

 

When everybody looked even _more_ confused, she continued. “Now then, after this is all over, the spells used to bring you three here will wipe away your memory of the event, as Dumbledore does not wish to create even _more_ paradoxes. Let’s start the introductions with the 1979ers then.”

 

“Um, hi?” a boy with light-brown hair and green eyes started. “Uh, my name’s Remus John Lupin~” Teddy gasped, and Albus could’ve sworn that he’d heard him utter an _I bloody fucking knew it_ and tear up a bit. “I recently graduated Hogwarts and work with the Order of the Phoenix, an organization dedicated to taking down the Dark Lord.”

 

A man with dark hair and grey eyes swaggered forwards. “Hey! I’m Sirius Black, I’m in the same boat as my friend Remus over here.”

 

Albus frowned. He’d heard that name before. A second man with dark hair, but this time hazel eyes, walked forwards. “Hello, my name’s James Potter,” his eyes widened and from the looks of it, so did Lily and James’s~ er, _his_ James’s. “Yeah, same as them, recently graduated and work for the Order of the Phoenix.”

 

A lady stepped forwards this time. She had fiery red hair and the same green eyes as him. “Hi, I’m Lily Evans,” Lily was the only one to gasp this time, she looked at Albus with her eyes wide. _Grandma_ , he mouthed, before pausing. _Dad’s mom_ , he amended, hoping that she wouldn’t think that she was Grandma Molly. “Same as them.”

 

“I’m Severus Snape,” Albus straightened, despite the booing and hissing by the two dark-hai~ you know what, Sirius and James. “I work for the Dark Lord~”

 

“But in a few months turn double-agent because the Dark Lord wants to kill Mrs. Potter.”

 

Snape stood there frozen. “He wants to what?”

 

“The Voldemort in this timeline already knows that Harry is the Prophecy child, therefore in order to save Lily, who he kills to get to Harry, you have to turn double-agent~ you _do_ turn double-agent.”

 

Snape stood there speechless. Eventually, McGonnagal sighed. “Moving on,” she drawled.

 

“Uh, hi, my name’s Regulus Arcturus Black,” a boy with dark hair and a face nearly identical (albeit a bit softer and not as good-looking) as the second~ er, _Sirius_ said. “I’m a Seventh-year and a Death Eater.”

 

Speaking of Sirius, Albus didn’t miss the way that Sirius growled and glared whilst the boy spoke.

 

“What’s he doing here?” he spat out at portraitdore.

 

“He, alongside Severus, are here to serve as spies.”

 

“What makes you think that either of those two _Death Eaters_ are going to join the cause?”

 

“In our timeline they both give their life for the cause~ our cause, that is.”

 

“So they're fickle~ they still can’t be trusted,” Sirius protested.

 

“Mr. Black, I would advise you to please not try to start a fight amongst your team. There is a very limited number of them, most importantly there is a limited number of people in this world that you can trust~ nobody outside of this room, that is.”

 

 

“Fine~ but I don’t have to like it,” Sirius growled.

 

“Alright then,” McGonnagal nodded before turning to the group from 1998. “Now, the 1998ers.”

 

“Uh, hi, my name is Harry James Potter, my group of friends and I just defeated the Dark Lord… and Malfoy’s here, so that’s that.”

 

“My name is Hermione Jean Granger, same as Harry.”

 

“Ronald Bilius Weasley. Same.”

 

“Ginerva Molly Weasley. Same.”

 

“Draco Lucius Malfoy. I didn’t fight against the Dark Lord, I fled with my parents.” Albus didn’t miss the way that the younger version of his best-friend’s father inched closer to Snape and Regulus.

 

“And now for 2022 to have a go,” McGonnagal beckoned.

 

“Hi! My name is Edward Remus Lupin, we live in a time of peace. I guess. I’m an Auror, but everyone else over here is still in Hogwarts.” Teddy nodded.

 

“James Sirius Potter. Hogwarts student.”

 

“Albus Severus Potter,” he nodded.

 

“Why the bloody hell would Harry name his son after Snape!?” Uncle Ron blinked.

 

“I’m not sure… maybe because Snape sacrificed his life to bring down Voldemort, and did his best to protect me wherever he could from danger… I guess I’ll wind up thinking more about it in the coming years,” his younger father shrugged.

 

“Lily Luna Potter,” _his_ Lily continued.

 

“Hugo Granger-Weasley,” Albus didn’t miss the way that his young-mother smirked at Uncle Ron.

 

“Rose Granger-Weasley.”

 

“D’xawww! Ronnie and ‘Mione, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S~” his mother cackled as Uncle Ron chased her around in a circle.

 

“Mr. and Ms. Weasley! You will stop that inappropriate behavior right this instant!”

 

The two came to a halt.

 

“Uhhh… hi, my name is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.”

 

“Good, now. I have here a few copies of an instruction manual compiled by Dumbledore. There’s three of them… split them up however you may wish.”

 

She disapparated, leaving three copies of a book.

 

Regulus stepped forwards first and grabbed the first book, opening it and frowning. “The first page is a portrait of Dumbledore.”

 

“How are we splitting these up?” Sirius demanded.

 

“By year?” James shrugged.

 

“Oh no _ways_ am I sharing a book with Snivellus,” Grandpa James shuddered.

 

“James F. Potter!” Grandma Lily scolded.

 

“Sorry, Lils. Anyways, we know when you guys are from, and your names, but can you please explain whom _exactly_ you are?” Remus frowned.

 

“Isn’t it obvious, Lupin?” Severus drawled. “We here are three generations of wizards. We’re the first, the 1998 group is your children, and the 2022 group is their children~ your grandchildren.”

 

“Hi, grandpa,” Albus nodded in Grandpa James’s direction, “Grandma,” in Grandma Lily’s.

 

“Mom! Dad!” his young father ran forwards to hug his grandparents. “Sirius! Lupin! Thank the gods, you’re all still alive! _Snape_ ~ I can’t fucking believe that I’m saying this, but I’m glad to see you too! And… and you’re Regulus, right? RAB~ you were like the first person to find out! I can’t believe that all of you are here!”

 

This was, of course, met with about a hundred questions.

 

“Find out what?” Sirius.

 

“Mom?” Lily.

 

“Dad?” James.

 

“ _Son_!?” both.

 

“ _Still_ alive?” Remus.

 

“Fuck yeah! Do I die fighting old Voldy?” Sirius.

 

“Won’t this disrupt the timeline?” Aunt Hermione.

 

“When’s lunch?” Uncle Ron.

 

“Mom, can I have an apple?” Hugo.

 

“Why don’t we just split it up by House?” Rose.

 

“But there’re four Houses.” Statement. Lily. _His_ Lily.

 

“Uhhh… Lils,” Teddy blinked. “I’m pretty sure that I’m the only one here not in either Slytherin or Gryffindor. Pretty sure. I’m still open to a counter argument.”

 

“No…” Ron frowned. “No, I’m pretty sure the rest of us _are_ all in either Slytherin or Gryffindor.”

 

“Then it’s settled~ we go by House,” Aunt Hermione frowned. “Though that does make the book to person ratio a little skewed.”

 

“Oh can the ratio talk, ‘Mione,” Uncle Ron moaned. “Look, it’s _obvious_ that splitting us by year isn’t going to work~ people are going to _fight_ … since the only other alternative would be giving 2022 a book and then splitting by House, and that would _also_ screw whatever a ratio is~ I’m assuming it’s the number of people to a book~ it’s probably just best to go by House.”

 

“Ron~ Forgoing~,” Hermione sighed. “Fine. We’ll go by House.”

 

“Ummm… guys,” Regulus interjected. “I hate to be a bother, but the books already _have_ people assigned to them. It’s on the second page~ it seems that each book is a mission-plan, charmed to turn into a second book upon completion.”

 

“Well,” Sirius said, impatiently. “Would it please your highness to tell us where we’re supposed to go?”

 

Regulus looked hurt by his brother’s comment. “Well, uh. Group one,” he held up a book. “Albus, James S., Scorpius, Draco, Harry and Ginny~”

 

“No fair!” Lily pouted. “How come you get mom and dad?”

 

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in horror and blushed.

 

“The second group is: Teddy~ Teddy?”

 

“Uh, sorry, I kind of go by that~ Edward’s such a mouthful, and it doesn’t suit me anyways.”

 

“You remind me of my niece, Nymphadora,” Sirius smiled. “She _hates_ her name~ not even seven yet and already prefers to go by her last name, Tonks.”

 

“That’s my mother,” Teddy smiled.

 

“Your son marries my niece?” Sirius frowned at Remus. “Uhhh… guess she’s kind of a cougar, eh?”

 

“Uhhh…” Teddy blushed. “Uhmmm… er… actu-actually, uh, R-Remus _is_ my dad…”

 

It took a moment to sink in.

 

“Bloody fucking hell, Remus~ she’s not even _seven yet_!” Sirius screeched. “And wE’RE BLOODY FUCKING DONE WITH SCHOOL ALREADY!!”

 

“Er~ Sorry, I guess?” Remus shrugged.

 

“OK, Regulus, te~ Re-Regulus?”

 

Regulus had fainted.

 

Snape got down next to him and murmured. “ _Rennervate_.”

 

Regulus woke up again, gasping. “Oh, sorry. Severus, where are we?”

 

“ _Snape_ , and you just fainted at the thought of Lupin’s pedophilic relationship with your niece~ er, ex-niece.”

 

“No~ it was… it was something… never mind. Let’s just finish this,” Regulus muttered, his brow sweating with effort to hold himself up and his skin paler than before. “Er… Teddy, then. Teddy, Lily L., Remus, James, Severus and Sirius.”

 

“That leaves you, me, Hugo, Rose, Hermione and Ron,” Grandma Lily pointed. “C’mon… I think that you need to lie down for a moment.”

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

“Regulus,” she whispered, softly.

 

“I’ll _be_ fine!” he snapped.

 

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Grandpa James stepped forwards.

 

Regulus looked about to fight but Snape stepped forwards to shield the younger male. “Come on. I’ll walk you to your station… but she’s right, you know. You should probably lie down.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“How about we compromise. Wherever your group goes to read your mission statement, I’ll transfigure your seat into a chaise so that you can lie down. Deal?”

 

“Deal.”

 

“And in return, you’ll tell me _why_ you fainted?”

 

“I can’~ not here,” Regulus whispered.

 

“Hey, genius. We’re all supposed to be working together,” Sirius growled. “No secrets. Now tell us what’s wrong so that we can fix it.”

 

“It’s a Slytherin thing,” Albus rolled his eyes. “Sorry if we find it hard to trust other Houses when everyone constantly discriminates against us.”

 

“You~you’re a _Slytherin_!?” his father spluttered in shock.

 

“Yes, and don’t worry, you don’t get much better about it in the future,” Albus said, bitterly.

 

He felt bad about saying it instantly. A look of hurt spread across his father’s face, his mother’s eyes flickered between the two of them as though one or both of them would explode any moment.

 

“Anyways… look, Regulus. I’m sorry that you fainted, but in the room right now, I can assure you that there are in fact four Slytherins who are very willing to defend your honor,” he rolled his eyes a bit at the way he sounded. “You don’t have to worry about… about feeling weak.”

 

“I haven’t eaten since yesterday,” he sighed.

 

“Why not?” Sirius barked. “Why didn’t Kreacher cook for you? Where was that idiot!?”

 

“I told him not to… I was supposed to go out with him today… before we got here…” Regulus frowned. “Without Kreacher though, the plan’s a waist.”

 

Kreacher appeared. “You called, master Regulus?”

 

“K-Kreacher? How did you get to… whenever this is?”

 

“House Elf magic,” Kreacher shrugged.

 

It didn’t make _any_ sense to Regulus or anyone there but really, none of this did. Frankly, Albus was too mentally drained by all of this to care anymore.

 

“Why didn’t you want to be fed? Where were you going?” Sirius pressed.

 

“I wasn’t hungry. Out.”

 

“Out _where_?”

 

“Out none-of-your-business~”

 

“Why you f~”

 

“Sirius! Regulus! Enough bickering! From what we know this world is in grave danger! Can we all just try to get along long enough to complete these bloody tasks! _Huh_!?” Grandma Lily grit out.

 

“Yes,” Regulus nodded.

 

“Sorry, Lils,” Sirius nodded, still glaring at his brother.

 

“Wait!” Albus interjected before they could continue. “Before we go off… my brother and sister are called James and Lily, and I know that our grandparents have the same names…”

 

“Bloody hell, Prongs. You’re a grandpa!” Sirius laughed.

 

“Jokes aside, what’re we going to do about names?”

 

“James S. and James P.?” his brother shrugged.

 

“No, too much of a mouthful,” grandpa frowned. “How about… how about I go by Potter, and you can keep James.”

 

“Wait,” Draco looked scandalized. “Does that mean that I have to start calling Potter by his _first_ name!?” he shuddered.

 

Albus noticed his father do the same.

 

“I’d guess so,” Mom nodded.

 

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Albus frowned. “You’ve gotten a lot closer the past year.”

 

“Umm… Al, I _really_ don’t think that it’s a good idea to tell them why at the moment,” Scorpius whispered.

 

“I second that,” James nodded.

 

“Why?” Harry frowned.

 

“We’ll tell you eventually. Right now it doesn’t seem like the best option. Yet,” James said.

 

“I’ll go by my maiden name. Evans,” Grandma Lily smiled.

 

“Well, since we’re all working together and whatnot, I feel as though it is my duty to mention that I~ I’m a werewolf,” Remus sighed.

 

There was no reaction.

 

“Are you kidding me? My life’s secret, and _none_ of you _care_!?”

 

“Everyone in our generation knows because you took the cursed DADA position,” Harry shrugged. “And you also fought in the final battle against Lord Voldemort~ I’m pretty sure Werewolf-wizard was written in your memorial in the Prophet.”

 

“And you’re Teddy’s dad, so _of course_ we all know,” Albus shrugged.

 

And that just left one person.

 

“You greasy git,” Sirius gasped. “You told, didn’t you! _Didn’t you_!?” he brandished his wand at Snape.

 

“Calm down, Black, no I did not.”

 

“He really didn’t,” Regulus interjected, “I hate to break it to you, but you Marauders aren’t exactly the best at keeping secrets. I figured it out in my first year, just like how I know that you guys all became Animagi to protect him. And that you guys have a ‘secret’ map that lets you stalk all of us.”

 

“H-how!?~” Sirius spluttered.

 

“In good time, dear brother. All in good time.”

 

“We’re not brothers.”

 

“You know what I meant.”

 

“Guys,” Teddy groaned. “Can we _please_ _just read the bloody instructions_!?”

 

Once more, the two brothers Black blushed.

 

.

 

“OK, who’s reading?” Harry asked.

 

“I will,” Scorpius volunteered,

 

“ _You are currently in the year 1990._

_“By this year, the revolution is over (has been over for a decade). There Potters are all dead, and the Weasleys have all been branded ‘Bloodtraitiors’ and made slaves (they serve different families: Ginerva, George and Bill serve the Malfoys; Fred, Molly and Arthur serve the Blacks; Ron, Charlie and Percy serve the Notts._

_“The Battle for Hogwarts occurred during the 1980s, pre-Draco, therefore the Malfoys are still within the good graces of the Dark Lord._

_“Nobody here from the year 2022 has been born yet._

_“You will need to use this to your advantage. Your task is to rescue the Weasleys. To win this war you will require an army, this is how you shall begin to build it.”_

“OK,” Harry frowned. “How the ever-loving-hell are we going to do that?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Ginny frowned as well. “Maybe we ought to find a member of each family and get access?”

 

“Or we could just use Kreacher,” Draco drawled. “He _is_ a house elf and _does_ have access to any room he could possibly want.”

 

The entire table turned to him.

 

“That could work,” Harry nodded.

 

“But there are some rooms that not even a house elf can access,” Albus pointed out.

 

“We’ll use Kreacher to sneak us in. Only three of us, though. One of us under the disillusionment charm, and the other two under my father’s invisibility cloak~ hang on a second… to my knowledge, he ought to have it as well.”

 

“I have it too,” Albus held up his.

 

“That’s bloody brilliant! Then we can launch this at the same time~ it would avoid the risk of someone catching on and barring us access to their house.”

 

“And all of the houses would be accessible anyways. All three families are very loyal to the Dark Lord, _must be_ to have slaves. If he is unable to apparate into your home regardless of circumstance, there are punishments to be dealt with,” Draco shrugged.

 

“Excellent!” Ginny grinned. “Well, how about Albus and James go together, I’ll go with Harry, and you can go with Scorpius. If we don’t make it back here within a given time limit, then we go searching for the others.”

 

“Agreed,” Scorpius nodded.

 

“Agreed,” they all agreed.

 

.

 

“ _Group 2,_ ” Teddy read,

 

“ _As your group will need to raise a small army in order to fight, you are tasked with finding a safe location to store them~ offsite where they do not pose a threat to you if they turn out to be spies._

_“In this universe the Potters do not exist anymore. Remus and Sirius are slaves to the Rosiers, and Severus has maintained his position beside the Dark Lord as his Potions Master. Nobody from 2020 has been born yet.”_

 

“But where?” Remus frowned. “We don’t know _anything_ about this land!”

 

“Well then, I guess we ought to go exploring. Let’s take Lily, Potter and… huh, I guess just me, then. Remus and Sirius ought to stay here unless they wind up picked up off of the streets or something.”

 

“I can go~ I’ll just transform into Padfoot,” Sirius shrugged, turning into a dog.

 

“Woah! That’s neat! You guys’ve got to teach me that one!” Teddy beamed.

 

“What of Lupin and I?” Snape drawled.

 

“Think of how to lay out the secret shelter.” Teddy shrugged.

 

“Alright.”

 

.

 

“Group three,” Regulus began.

 

“ _In this universe, Lily is dead. Regulus is alive. Hugo and Rose were never born. Hermione is the Averys’ slave, Ron is the Notts’ slave~”_

“That’s _awful_ ,” Hermione gasped.

 

_“This world was created by a time-turner and is in no-means stable. Your task is to figure out this universe’s weak spot (an object of sorts) and destroy it. It is likely held by either Delphini, Grindelwald or Voldemort.”_

“What could it be?” Lily frowned.

 

“Well, the Voldemort in our world was using Horcruxes to keep himself together~” Hermione began.

 

“What are those?” Evans asked.

 

“No, that wouldn’t qualify as a ‘weak spot’ as it is Voldemort specific,” Regulus frowned, ignoring Evans. “Hmmm… if their time-turner was capable of creating a new universe… maybe smashing it would work? I dunno, it would depend on how unstable it was…”

 

“How about the Elder Wand? Both Voldemort and Grindelwald would have it,” Hermione added.

 

“Hmmm… that would definitely help if we could find a spell to undo this world… I’d need to go through a library though, my family one is pretty extensive, most old families have large libraries. If I could just get access to it~”

 

“I have a few books from there in my satchel!”

 

“You’ve been in my family’s library?”

 

“Yeah, the Order used it when Voldemort came back as a hideout~”

 

“Be careful when you say his name, it might be a taboo~”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m sure that Dumbledore would’ve made this place impenetrable~”

 

“Still. Anyways, you were saying that~”

 

“Ah yes, we were on the run from the… Dark Lord, we were Horcrux hunting~”

 

“Wait! There’s more than one!?”

 

“Yeah! There’s seven! The ring, the cup, his highschool diary, the diadem, the locket~ which you found~ Nagini and Harry.”

 

“Nagini!? _Harry!?_ I thought that you couldn’t place a Horcrux in a living creature!”

 

“Well, I’m not sure how he got it in Nagini, but in Harry it was an accident~ don’t worry though, Voldemort removed it.”

 

“ _Willingly_?” Regulus frowned.

 

“No. He never knew about it. Dumbledore set the whole thing up.”

 

“Ah, of course. And I’d assume that he made the other objects Horcruxes because of their ties to the founders of Hogwarts, given his ties to Salazar Slytherin?”

 

“What ties?” Evans asked.

 

“You won’t get anything out of them at the moment,” Ron whispered to her. “Not when they're on like this. Best thing to do is let them keep going, eventually they’ll get tired.”

 

“Do you know what ties?”

 

“Yeah. Voldy’s real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior, he’s a half-blood descendant of Slytherin. You know Moaning Myrtle?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“When he went to school at Hogwarts, he opened the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk in it killed her.”

 

“ _Basilisk_!?”

 

“Yeah, your son fought it and won~ he was only in his second year.”

 

“That’s so cool!”

 

“So our possible objects of interest are the time-turner that they used, the Elder wands, an old book and Nagini,” Regulus concluded.

 

“How’d they get there?” Hugo asked his father.

 

“Beats me,” Ron whispered back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~I am so sorry~~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not speak latin at all, so I am very sorry about the crappy spell I provided!

“Dad?” Harry asked.

 

“Yeah?” Potter replied, turning around. He’d just been about to leave the premises.

 

“Can I please borrow your invisibility cloak?”

 

“Sure,” Potter reached into the cloth bag that they’d all had on them as soon as they’d arrived. James’s initials were on it. “ _Accio Cloak_ ,” he called, and up popped the cloak. “Here you go,” he smiled, handing it to Harry.

 

“Thanks. Good luck, dad.”

 

“Good luck… I’m sorry, the thought of calling you son is kind of weird.”

 

“It’s alright, you can call me just Harry, then.”

 

“OK then, just Harry, see you in a bit.”

 

.

 

The world… was a dump. A bloody fucking dump.

 

James shot a sidelong glance at Sirius, who was prowling around on all fours and sniffing out the terrain.

 

They could converse like this, of course. Unfortunately, they were out with Teddy and Lily- his granddaughter- who could not.

 

Lily had insisted that she and Teddy scout a different area so that they could cover more ground, but as his best-friend’s son had pointed out, splitting up was an easy way to get caught. At least together they could probably beat whoever was stupid enough to try and take them.

 

So far they’d found a tunnel, and a hole. James personally thought that the hole was a good place, as they could use magic to make it deeper and hide the army underground, but they wanted to wait until they’d scoped the entire area before making any decisions.

 

They'd decided to scope out areas within a five kilometer radius (but further than three kilometers away) of their hideout. So far, they’d covered about a fifth of the total distance. If they were lucky, the way that they were going, they _might_ just finish before midnight.

 

.

 

Regulus and Hermione had been pouring through books together. Ron, Lily (Evans), Hugo and Rose had been resigned to searching through books for the words ‘Horcrux’ and ‘Time-Turner’ and every time that they’d found one of the words, they were supposed to call Hermione and Regulus over to check.

 

“They’re bloody nightmares,” he swore to Lily, “The both of them, I’m telling you.”

 

“Yeah, I thought James and Sirius were bad when they wanted to find something~ these two are like hell incarnate~”

 

“Less talking, more looking!” Regulus snapped.

 

Ron and Lily looked up to see both Regulus and Hermione glaring at them. Sheepishly they both turned back to their books, whispering more quietly this time.

 

“Gods above they’re scary.”

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

.

 

The plan was simple. Harry and Ginny were going to infiltrate 12 Grimmauld Place, Draco and Scorpius were going to Malfoy Manor, and Albus and James were going off to Nottville. The reasoning was simple, Harry and Ginny were both familiar with 12 Grimmauld Place, same for Draco and Scorpius with Malfoy Manor, and Albus~ being a Slytherin~ had once been invited over to the Notts’ for the Easter Holidays along with Scorpius.

 

Kreacher was to take Albus and James _only_ , as Albus was the only one of them had not yet acquired his Apparating License (Scorpius had acquired his during the Christmas Holidays), and James had never been to Nottville.

 

Harry and Ginny both closed their eyes, Harry gripping his invisibility cloak tightly, and thought of Regulus’s bedroom, before apparating into it. Quickly they got to work, Harry and Ginny quickly dove under the cloak before opening the door and making their way down the stairs.

 

Harry gasped. There was Walburga and Orion Black, in the flesh. Mrs. Black was lounging on a couch, being fed grapes by Mrs. Weasley. Harry had to restrain Ginny from attacking Mrs. Black. Mr. Black was getting a foot-rub by a boy who resembled a young Fred/George (the two were almost identical, it was bloody hard to tell whom was whom most times).

 

“Dinner’s ready!” called Mr. Weasley, dressed in an apron.

 

“Come, Orion,” Walburga stood. “Bella and the girls will be arriving tomorrow morning, it’s best we go to bed early.”

 

“Of course, my love,” he nodded.

 

Ginny turned to Harry under the cloak and made gagging noises. He muffled a laugh, before following Molly and Fred, who were likely going to attend to House Work. It took 3 fucking hours before the Blacks went to sleep. Harry and Ginny shed the cloak, understandably freaking out the three slaves.

 

“ _Muffliato_!” Harry cast at the door. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, hello Fred,” he nodded.

 

“Who-who’re you?” Mrs Weasley gasped. Mr Weasley stepped forwards in an attempt to shield his wife and son from Harry and Ginny.

 

“We’re from a different timeline, we’re here to liberate yours,” he explained. “My name is Harry, Harry Potter~”

 

“Lily’s son!” Molly gasped, “But-but _no_ , you were thrown out of a window as a babe, then your throat was sliced for good measure. You’re supposed to be _dead_!”

 

“Well I’m not,” Harry frowned. That seemed a rather elaborate way to get rid of an infant. “Not in my timeline anyways. This is Ginny, Ginny Weasley, your daughter from _our_ timeline.”

 

“My-my _Ginny_ ,” Molly’s eyes teared up. “But-but that’s _impossible_ , my baby isn’t even ten yet, you-you’re a grown woman.”

 

“Mum,” Ginny said, tears in her eyes. “It’s me, it’s really me. I’m from an alternate timeline in the year 1998. In our timeline, Harry never died, Voldemort failed to kill him. We _just_ won the war.”

 

“Did I help?” Fred asked, timidly.

 

Ginny wanted to cry. “Yeah, yeah you did, Fred. You and George both helped us a lot. And you can help us in this war too. You just need to come with us, we’ll take you to a safe place. We’re raising an army to fight this universe’s Dark Lords and we need your help.”

 

“Even if we were to believe you, and I’m not saying that we do,” Arthur frowned, skeptically. “We have no way of getting out of here. Not only were we robbed of our wands, but there’s a tracking charm on us.”

 

“I’m sure that whatever it is, we could find a way to undo it,” Harry frowned. “Maybe, maybe Kreacher could undo it? Or maybe Hermione and Regulus?”

 

“ _Kreacher_!? _Regulus_!?” Molly laughed. “Why would _they_ help _us_?”

 

“Because the ones I’m talking about are from our dimension, and they’re good people,” Harry said. “I don’t know about the ones from your dimension, but if our ones are trusted enough by Dumble~”

 

“ _Don’t say his name_!” Arthur and Molly hissed.

 

At the confused looks the pair received, Molly elaborated.

 

“There was a taboo placed on it. Anyone caught saying it may suffer a fate ranging from a fine to a beheading, depending on your blood-status, of course.”

 

Harry and Ginny exchanged worried looks. They hoped that the others knew this.

 

“Anyways, we can come back tomorrow night,” Harry smiled at the Weasleys. “We’ll ask how to undo the charm. Until then.”

 

And he and Ginny disapparated.

 

.

 

As fate would have it, they’d wound up sticking with the hole. Potter (James) and Sirius were busy casting spells to make it deeper, whilst Lily (granddaughter) and Teddy cast protective charms around the area so that they could not be traced.

 

On the bright side, once these holes were deep enough, James figured that they could probably bring in Moony and Snape to help out with making the place hospitable. He doubted the latter would need much guidance, given his ever shabby appearance.

 

The plan was to make them in layers, so that the same patch of land could be hosting 3 underground levels. They’d decided to just make boulder-sized rooms and use magic to expand them. They’d currently settled on two kitchens, four sleeping quarters, an infirmary, a sparring room, and one giant meeting room (on the lowest level). They had no idea how big their army would be, but figured that if they wound up needing more space they’d probably be able to enlist help from the others.

 

It had been Teddy’s idea to make it so that there were a maze of tunnels that connected the bunker to the main city, with tricky turns and twists that only they knew to keep unwanted visitors out. Sirius had suggested adding the same charms used at Hogwarts to keep students out of rooms that they didn’t have the passwords too, that way they could constantly update their security, whilst confusing people by putting passwords at places which led to dead ends (and would permanently seal behind them, resulting in death, as his sweet, young granddaughter had so eloquently added, a fire burning behind her eyes).

 

He himself had wanted to make the tunnels deeper than they currently were, to try and replicate Gringotts in a way, as everyone knew that you couldn’t break in and out of Gringotts (though Teddy disagreed with that notion vehemently, suggesting that James ought to ‘mention that to Harry’).

 

.

 

“But look at all the symbols~” Regulus hissed.

 

“Perhaps they exist merely to throw us of, maybe even as a mere decoration~”

 

“No, you don’t understand the Dark Lord. He is cocky and boasts a lot, those time-turners on the walls are a _sign_!”

 

“But the Dark Lord is not working alone, I am 100% positive that his daughter has more common sense than him!”

 

“I’m bloody done,” Ron muttered. “Hey! Shut up, the both of you! Look, whether it’s the Horcruxes or the Time Turner, who cares? We’ll go after both if we need to! Let’s take a vote to decide which one to target first, huh? All in favor of the Horcruxes?”

 

Evans, Hugo and Hermione put their hands up.

 

“All in favor of the Time-Turners?” Ron drawled.

 

He, Regulus and Rose put their hands up.

 

“It’s a tie,” Hermione frowned. “How will we settle this?”

 

“Simple, have you ever heard of a game called ‘Rock paper scissors?” Regulus smirked

 

.

 

Kreacher had made dinner. He’d done a lovely job using the interdimensional, time-travelling fridge that Dumbledore had provided them with, with an undetectable extension charm that basically comprised of the entirety of the 2022 Hogwarts Kitchen.

 

Harry glanced around. It had seemed that his entire group had had the same problem with breaking out the Weasleys.

 

“Hey, Hermione,” Harry nodded at his best-friend. “I was wondering if you knew a way to remove a tracking charm.”

 

“Have you considered _‘Finite Incantatem’_?”

 

“Yeah, but the magic used on it’s a bit stronger than normal. It’s something called the _‘Endless Pursuit Charm_.’”

 

“Hmmm… well, I’m not sure of it, but I’ll check my books for something.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

.

 

“So, we’ve decided,” Regulus told the small portrait of Dumbledore within the book. “We’ve decided that the object is almost certainly the time-turner.”

 

“Very well,” he smiled kindly back at the six of them. “The books will multiply the moment that everybody else has completed their tasks.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” Evans nodded.

 

.

 

“We’re done with the hideout,” Potter smiled. “We even set a Fidelius Charm on it~”

 

“‘We’?” Snape drawled.

 

“Severus,” Potter grinned through gritted teeth. “ _Severus_ placed a Fidelius Charm over it.”

 

“Excellent work! This book shall divide into more copies once the last task is complete.”

 

.

 

By lunch time the next day, Hermione had found them the answer.

 

“ _Finite Incantatem Vestigo Totalum!_ It’s a stronger version of _Finite Incantatem_ plus something extra directed at the tracking portion of your spell. It should do the trick.”

 

“Thanks, Hermione,” Harry smiled kindly at her.

 

The others had written down the location of the underground system on three pieces of paper charmed to only allow those of Weasley blood to read them, so that they could be let in.

 

They set out at dinner time, hoping to catch the Weasleys whilst their respective owners were asleep.

 

Harry and Ginny had to wait an entire two hours before the pair went to sleep, after which they found the Weasleys and pulled off the cloak, showing them the paper and taking the tracking charm off of them.

 

“Thank you! Thank you!” Mrs Weasley cried. “I can’t thank you enough! But my other children~ George, Ron, Bill, Charli~”

 

“They’re fine, Mrs. Weasley,” Harry soothed. “Others are picking them up. You’ll reunite in only a few minutes, just grab my hands and focus on the place that we’re to disapparate to.”

 

.

 

Draco hadn’t been to Malfoy Manor in a while. After the war, his parents had whisked their entire family off to Norway to lay low for a while, as they had a cottage there that they had inherited from Draco’s great-grandmother on his father’s side, Donatella Graustein. But from his son’s familiarity of the area, he could infer that they would return to the Manor, and oddly enough he wasn’t so sure that that was what he wanted.

 

.

 

“Where are they?” Mrs. Black frowned, angrily pacing around 12 Grimmauld Place. “ _Orion_ , **_where are they_**!?”

 

“Who, my love?”

 

“Our _servants_ , of course!” she hissed.

 

“Arthur! Molly! Come here!” nothing.

 

“We must inform the Dark Lord of this,” hissed Mrs. Black.

 

“Of what? A case of unruly slaves?” Mr. Black scoffed. “That is a waste of his time, I suggest that we search for them. If we find them, we punish them ourselves. If we don’t, then we call Bella.”

 

.

 

“Mummy! Dad!” little Ginny squealed, running over to her parents.

 

She was followed by George, Bill, Charlie, Percy and Ron.

 

“We’re going to leave you here to get settled in,” Harry smiled at them. “We’ll be back tonight to brief you on the situation.”

 

“Rest for now,” Ginny said, tear-eyed. “You deserve it.”

 

.

 

“OK,” Harry told the book. “We’re done now.”

 

“Excellent,” the small Dumbledore portrait smiled. “Now gather the others and place the books on top of each other for your next assignments.”

 

They took the book into the room they’d dubbed as the main-meeting room (one of the twenty-four rooms in their hideout [eighteen bedrooms, a kitchen, an eating room, a main area, a library and two bathrooms [a female one and a male one]]) and found everyone in there.

 

“Why’re you all here?” he frowned.

 

“Dumbledore told us,” the chorused.

 

“Right, of course.”

 

He placed his group’s book on top of the other two stacked up and watched as the books glowed golden before turning into one giant book for a moment, then splitting up into six.

 

This time it was Lupin who stepped forwards.

 

“The first book,” he read, “Goes to Sirius and… Re- _Regulus_?”

 

“Oh no ways, _no ways_!” Sirius exclaimed. “I am _not_ working with him!”

 

“Believe me, the feeling’s mutual,” though Harry was almost certain that there had been no conviction in Regulus’s voice.

 

“Well tough, because you have to,” Remus glared at the pair. “Second book is James S. and Albus; third is Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Ron and me; fourth is James and Lily- er, _Potter and Evans_ ; fifth is Severus and Draco and the sixth is Scorpius, Lily L., Teddy, Hugo and Rose.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

“Which one of us’s reading?” Regulus asked his brother, who was not talking to him. At, like, all. Sirius gave him a look and he sighed. “OK then, I suppose that I will read. Ahem,

 

“ _Congratulations on completing your first task!_

_“By now, I am sure that you have realized the need to get rid of the Dark Lord of our time, however I am sorry to inform young Mr. Black that there is not one, but **seven** Horcruxes,” _ Regulus paused, feeling slightly light-headed. He felt his brother shoot him a heated glare and continued. “ _The two of you, however, are to collect the first one, Salazar Slytherin’s locket. Good luck, and remember, there is no need for a martyr.”_

“What the bloody hell does that mean?” Sirius scoffed. At his brother’s silence, his frown deepened. “Regulus, what does that mean? And what are these ‘Horcruxes’ he’s talking about.”

 

“Horcruxes are a piece of dark magic that bind a fragment of a person’s soul to an object. They're incredibly gruesome, and if you kill the person, they can, effectively, come back to life.”

 

Sirius frowned. “How on earth would Volde~ sorry, _you know who_ , even make one?”

 

“It’s a long process that typically starts with murder, most books neglect to mention the process because it is so evil that it splits your soul and makes you less than human.”

 

“Oh,” Sirius frowned. “Well, I guess we have to find that locket then, huh?”

 

“No,” Regulus whispered. “I know where it is, or more specifically, Kreacher knows where it is. Let’s find him and go.”

 

.

 

“Why do you look so bloody sad?” James frowned at his brother.

 

“I’m worried about Scorp,” Albus sighed. “All alone in that group, no friends.”

 

“Hey, I’m sure that Lily’ll look out for him.”

 

“They don’t really get along that well.”

 

“He’s your boyfriend.”

 

“ _Exactly_ , anyways, how are we supposed to infiltrate Hogwarts?”

 

“Nobody knows who we are, it’ll be a piece of cake.”

 

 

.

 

“Okay,” Rose read, “so it says here that we need to find and kidnap Garrick Ollivander.”

 

“How’re we going to do that?” Scorpius frowned.

 

“How about we piece together where he is, and I’ll go in and do it. I can change my appearance, no one’ll know that it’s me,” Teddy shrugged.

 

.

 

“We have to find… _Azkaban_?” Ron gaped. “ ** _how_**!? The only people who know where that is are Ministry Officials!”

 

“Then we’ll infiltrate the Ministry and figure it out,” Hermione grinned wickedly.

 

.

 

“We’re on potion brewing duty,” Snape frowned.

 

“I suppose that Potter and his bunch will be needing many than.”

 

“I suppose. It also says that we need to keep the Weasleys fed…”

 

“So we’re basically just glorified housewives?”

 

“Indeed.”

 

.

 

“Don’t we need, like, an invisibility cloak or something?” Sirius frowned.

 

“Nope,” Regulus popped the ‘p’ as Kreacher apparated them into the cave. “He’s arrogant, thinks it’s well hidden.”

 

“But if his daughter went to the past and informed him of his defeat to create this timeline, wouldn’t he know what we’re about to do?”

 

“No, she’ll probably think the your Godson did it.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because, if what I learned from young Ms. Granger is correct~”

 

“I’m pretty sure that she’s older than you.”

 

“Not linearly, but as I was saying, Delphini is likely to think that the only flaw in her father’s plan is the Potter brat~”

 

“ _Hey_!”

 

“Sorry, just trying to get into her shoes. Anyways, here we are. Kreacher, what’s first?”

 

“First Kreacher must place his blood on the wall for payment.”

 

“No, Kreacher,” Regulus commanded, “you will do no such thing. _Sectumsempra_!” he wandlessly cast at his hand before either Kreacher or Sirius could interfere. His blood spattered on the wall and a silver outline appeared on the rocky wall in the form of an arch before a huge chunk of the wall was suddenly open to them, revealing a large, black lake.

 

“Merlin~ what were you thinking!” Sirius hollered at his brother who had, by now, healed the wound.

 

“That I know how much Kreacher hates this place,” he gestured at the shaking House Elf, “And that we need to get through. Now if you don’t mind, we need to be heading that way,” he pointed.

 

“How?” Sirius glowered at him. “What, are we going to swim or something?”

 

“No,” Regulus frowned, looking at the water with a strange expression. “No… I don’t trust it. Kreacher, can you please apparate Sirius and me over there?”

 

“N-no, Master, bad things will happen, _terrible things_ ~”

 

“Kreacher,” Regulus said, more firmly this time. “ _Please_.”

 

“O-okay, Master Regulus.”

 

.

 

“What’s the first potion on that list?” Draco called.

 

“It’s an anti-venom… huh… I wonder what those idiots are up to.

 

.

 

“OK,” Regulus turned to Kreacher in a way that made Sirius feel a bit like an outsider. “Kreacher, I need you to make me drink this. _All_ of this. No matter what I say, you need to make sure that I finish it. Then,” he pulled a locket out from around his neck, “I need you to switch the lockets, and apparate Sirius and me out of here. Promise?”

 

“M-Mastter, _please_ , K-Kreacher can drink i~”

 

“Kreacher. _Promise_?”

 

To date, Sirius had _never_ seen Kreacher show _anyone_ who wasn’t Regulus even an ounce of compassion, today he supposed it was time he got to see Kreacher’s loyalty to Regulus put to the test.

 

“I promise.”

 

“Good. You are not to obey any more of my orders until I am deemed of sound health and mind.”

 

“Yes, Master Regulus.”

 

.

 

“It says right here that Ollivander has a store in Diagon Alley,” Teddy read the map.

 

“According to this news article, there are seventeen stores~ and this is from a year ago, mind you, so there might be more~ all around England… how would we even find him?” Rose exclaimed.

 

“I could do some recon, go to a store and ask where to find him.”

 

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”

 

“I do it all the time in my line of work. Don’t worry.”

 

.

 

“How did you even find this?” Albus hissed as his brother led them through a secret passageway into Hogwarts.

 

“Dad gave me the Map.”

 

“Right…” Albus was _sure_ that their father had ‘given’ James the map. Willingly, even.

 

“Yeah, now come on… I have no idea what we’re supposed to be doing here, but I for one would like to make sure that all of the secret passageways are still open.”

 

“Shouldn’t we be doing some recon?”

 

“Yeah...” James hesitated. “We could split up.”

 

“We haven’t got a spare invisibility cloak.”

 

“That’s true, but we’d still blend in well enough, come along.”

 

“ _How_?” Albus groaned.

 

“Well,” James grinned in a way that made Albus _highly_ uncomfortable. “Looking around us… I’d say we’re in the right uniform to fit in.”

 

.

 

“How on earth are we going to find Xenophillius?” Lily Evans hissed at her to-be husband.

 

“Not a clue… he couldn’t still live in that house of his, could he?”

 

“Not a chance! Death Eaters _hate_ the Quibbler, it’s the most Anti-Dark Lord magazine out there. Plus, it praises our side.”

 

“True, but Xenophillius is a Pure-blood.”

 

“So is Sirius, but he’s a slave… maybe that’s how we’ll find him?”

 

“Fat chance, if he were a slave it would have mentioned it in the book like it did for everyone else… my guess, not even Dumbledore knows where the old codger is.”

 

“Perhaps… wait… this is Dumbledore… he wouldn’t just randomly pick eighteen people out of nowhere and randomly assign them to tasks, there’s a _reason_ that he picked us. There’s something within our know-how that we can use to find Xenophillius. I’m sure.”

 

“Great, now if we could only figure _what_ it was.”

 

“We will. We’ve just got to keep trying.”

 

.

 

Sirius watched in horror as his brother writhed around in pure agony.

 

“Please,” he begged Kreacher. “ _Please_ , no more!”

 

“Kreacher must. Master Regulus said that Kreacher must,” Kreacher sounded firm. Heartbroken, but firm.

 

“Water~ _water_ , I **_need_** water!” he spun on Sirius with the most desperate pair of eyes he’d seen in a _long_ time. “Siri- _Siri I’m so sorry_!”

 

Sirius felt _very_ uncomfortable. What the bloody hell was going on!?

 

“I’m sorry I chose them! I’m _sorry_ I took the mark~ I’m _sorry I didn’t trust you_!” Regulus broke down crying.

 

“Sssh, hey. It’s OK,” OK, so he was doing this now. _Great_. “It’s OK.”

 

“Siri, Siri _please_ ~ I **_need_** water! I’m burning, oh… oh I’m burning… this is hell, this is for everything I’ve done in my life, isn’t it?” Regulus sobbed as Kreacher shoved another cup-full (Regulus had transfigured a nearby rock into a small cup) into his mouth. “ _RaarghHHH **HH**!!” _ The scream that ripped through his throat was pure torture to _hear_ , Sirius couldn’t even begin to fathom what it must feel like. “This is-this is for everything, huh…? Kreacher-Kreacher _please_ ~ Kreacher I _can’t_ , **_please_** Kreacher, take me home!” Regulus doubled over, unable to withstand the pain.

 

“I am sorry,” Kreacher sobbed, as he fed Regulus yet another cup-full. “Hush, young master. It will be fine… just a few more cups and this will all be over, and then Mr. Snape can give you a nice bezoar~”

 

“Those are for poisons,” Sirius frowned.

 

“And you will feel all better,” the House Elf ignored Sirius in favor of patting Regulus’s neck soothingly, before grabbing another cupful and forcing it down the screaming boy’s throat.

 

Sirius glanced back into the basin. There was only a few more cupworths left… but could his brother handle it?

 

“What if I drank it?” he wondered out loud.

 

“Then the potion would reset itself and this will all have been for naught,” Kreacher hissed. “And Master Sirius will have made his poor, dear brother suffer for _nothing_.”

 

Sirius gulped. Damn, that annoying glorified maid was fucking _terrifying_ when he wanted to be.

 

He watched as Regulus downed the next cupful, clutching his throat and breathing heavily. His eyes had rolled backwards into his head. He turned over and started to crawl towards the edge of the mini-island.

 

“No you don’t!” Sirius hollered, grabbing his weakened brother’s legs and pulling him back to the basin. “Come on, Reg. Just a few more. Are you going to make me sit on you?”

 

“N-n-n-m-m-m-m,” Regulus whimpered, pathetically, incapable of coherent speech.

 

“How much left?” Sirius called to Kreacher.

 

“Two cupfuls.”

 

“Come on, Reg. You’ve got this,” he said, sighing as he looked at his brother’s snake tattoo. The one that had gotten him in this mess in the first place.

 

“Kill me…” Regulus pleaded, looking into his big-brother’s eyes. _“Please. **PLEASE!**_ ”

.

 

“OK, so ‘Mione, Harry and me are going to go in there disguised as Bill, Linda and Fred Stone, pure-blooded siblings from Cuba who work at the Ministry,” Ron turned to Ginny. “Meanwhile, you and Lupin are going to map out the entire country and anything within 20km of the borders, got it?”

 

“Course, Won,” Ginny made a kissy-face at her brother. “Don’t worry, Remus here and I’ve got this.”

 

.

 

“Last one!” Kreacher tried to shove the glass down Regulus’s throat.

 

“No! _No_! You can’t make me! I said _water_! I _order you_ to ge~mm.. mph,” Sirius held the glass to his brother’s (who he was sitting on) mouth and pinched his nose.

 

“Good,” Sirius grinned, semi-maniacally, “Now _drink_! Drink and we can _end this_! Come on, Reggie, just this one gulp and it’ll all be over.”

 

Whether Regulus drank it out of brotherly compassion or because he needed to breathe.

 

Suddenly, it was as though a trance had come over Regulus…’s other trance. “Water.”

 

“ _What_!?” Sirius exclaimed at his brother. The side effects hadn’t worn off… that was bad.

 

“Water. _Water_!” Sirius looked helplessly at Kreacher who was pre-occupied with switching the locket that Regulus had given him with one that he hadn’t seen before

 

“Auguamenti!” Sirius cast into the cup, but nothing happened. He looked up to explain it to Regulus, but saw him on his knees, reaching for water at the lake’s edge.

 

“ _Regulus! **No**_!” he bellowed.

 

He watched in horror as an icy hand reached out and gripped at his brother’s arm. More began to surround the island. Sirius snapped into action, grabbing his half-into-the-lake brother and pulling him away from the bank with all of his might. “Kreacher! Get us out now!” he picked Regulus up bridal style, cradling his younger ex-brother like one would a small baby as Kreacher apparated the three of them out of the cave and into the hideout.

 

“Merlin, what happened?” Draco frowned.

 

“Quickly! Get a bezoar, he needs a bezoar!” Sirius bellowed.

 

“Well, well. Didn’t think that you’d take to poisoning your own brother, Black,” Snape growled as he searched his cabinets for a bezoar, picking one up and administering it to Regulus.

 

He cast a vitals spell on the younger Black and frowned. “Whatever it was that he’s had… it’s highly toxic… the bezoar will only help him so much. Would you mind telling me what exactly it was that you fed him?”

 

“I didn’t feed him anything,” Sirius growled. “And for your information, he drank some potion in some cave protecting something called a _Horcrux_ which belonged to Lord You-Know-Who.”

 

“Ahh… I see…” Snape frowned. “Well, unidentifiable potion means that we can only really treat him for the symptoms and give him some charcoal to absorb the poison. Draco… bring me potion number 1.”

 

Draco nodded, picking the bottle up and walking to where his Godfather sat beside his best-friend.

 

“Come on, you idiot. You're not dying on me yet.”

 

.

 

“He’s not here… the entire place looks ransacked,” James frowned.

 

“Keep looking. There must, at the very least, be _some_ kind of clue about where he is.”

 

“Say… didn’t Xeno have a girlfriend… what’s her name, Pandora?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Maybe this place wasn’t ransacked? Maybe the two of them went into hiding?”

 

.

 

“Ahh, Mr. Stone,” Harry’s skin crawled at Umbridge’s voice. “Back from your family vacation in Cuba, I see.”

 

“Yes, Dolores,” he grinned, doing his best not to puke. “Say, You-Know-Who’s asked me to check on _the map_ ~ says he’s worried because some slaves escaped, and he wants them thrown into Azkaban as soon as they're caught.”

 

“Why would he pick you?” Umbridge squinted. “Linda’s the Head Auror.”

 

“Top secret, I’m afraid. Now come on, you wouldn’t want to defy an order from our Lord, would you?”

 

“No,” she blinked, voice crisp. “No, not at all. Come along, I’ll show you the map.”

 

.

 

“How do I look?” Teddy grinned, turning around like a model on display.

 

“Bloody brilliant! I’d’ve never guessed that it was you!” Hugo grinned at the not-so-boy standing in front of him, dressed like a respectable pure-blood girl.

 

“Well, I _am_ a metamorphmagus,” he flashed his pearly whites once more.

 

 _Good grief_ , Scorpius rolled his eyes, _I can’t believe that I’m stuck with them here… I wonder what Al’s doing? Gods above I miss him… what I would give to wrap my arms around him right now and have a long, long long, long, long~_

“Focus!” Rose glared. “Come on, now your first job is to infiltrate~”

 

“Walk into~” Teddy rolled his eyes.

 

“~The store in Diagon Alley, because that’s the most likely place that he’ll be. Meanwhile, we borrowed a few invisibility cloaks from Uncle Harry and Potter~”

 

_long, long, long, long~_

 

“And we’re going to go to other locations _in pairs_ , because like it or not, none of us are skilled enough to go out on our own. I’ll be taking Hugo~”

 

_long, long, long, long~_

 

“~And Lily’ll be with Scorpius.”

 

“What?” Lily blinked.

 

 _Kiss_. “Excuse me?” Scorpius blinked. “Wait… what’s going on?”

 

“Urgh! You were not _honestly_ daydreaming throughout all of that, were you?” Rose glared.

 

“What can I say? I’m missing my better half.”

 

Lily made a vomiting noise.

 

“Anyways, you and Lily are going to the shop in London. Try to behave, please.”

 

.

 

“So what’re we going to do with this?” Ginny asked her not-quite-yet-ex-Defense-Against-the-Dark-Arts-Proffessor.

 

“Quite simply, we’re going to charm it. The moment that Harry, Ron and Hermione get back with the location we need, we’re going to spell it to show exactly where all of the guards are at any given point~”

 

“Like the Marauders Map?”

 

Remus stilled. “How-how do you know about that?”

 

Ginny frowned. “How do _you_ know about that?”

 

“Well, during my school days, my friends and I formed a group, known to us as the Marauders. Due to their Animagus appearances, James was nicknamed ‘Prongs’, Sirius ‘Padfoot’ and Peter~ who for some reason isn’t here~ was ‘Wormtail’~”

 

“That would make you ‘Moony,’” Ginny grinned. “Oh, George is going to _flip_ when he find out! You guys were him and-and Fred’s idols growing up.”

 

“Who’re they?”

 

“George is my brother, Fred was my brother as well, his twin.”

 

“Look,” Remus sighed, familiar enough with broken families that he truly felt like he could help out with this one. “Whatever it is that’s going on… Fred’ll always be your brother. Family is family, even when you're fighting or have your dif~”

 

“Uhm… he actually died. During the Battle of Hogwarts… a wall exploded by our family, he didn’t make it.”

 

“Oh,” Remus sighed. “I’m so sorry, that must have been devastating.”

 

“It was, but I mean, it’s been about a month in our time since the war ended. We’ll get over it.”

 

“Of course.”

 

.

 

“Dora,” Lily called. “Dora, are you home?... she’s not answering.”

 

“Maybe she’s not in there either?” James frowned. “Dora?”

 

“Who are you, and what do you want?”

 

Lily gasped as she felt a wand prod at the back of her neck. From the noise that James made, she could only infer that he was being met with the same kindness.

 

“Uh~ I-I’m Lily. Lily Potter~”

 

“That’s a lie! Lily is _dead_ , and even if she weren’t she’d be in her thirties by now!”

 

“But I am! I _am_ Lily! Dumbledore sent us back in time~ or us forwards, I guess~ from another dimension to fix this one.”

 

“Dumbledore? _Dumbledore_ sent you?” a voice that sounded oddly like Xenophillius’s sneered. “Alright then, _prove it_.”

 

“OK, my name is Lily Potter, I’m married to James Potter. In my time, I'm from the year 1979, The War is still going on, and Jamie and I were planning on starting a family together soon, but haven’t started yet. From what I’ve seen with those who were brought _back_ from the future, we do. We’ll have a son named Harry James Potter, who in turn will go on to have three children of his own with his wife, Ginny Weasley~”

 

“The Weasley’s are all _slaves_ ,” Pandora hissed.

 

“Not in our timeline. Our timeline never let the darkness win, it was always thwarted. That’s why You-Know-Who’s daughter, Delphini, went back in time, creating this timeline.”

 

Xenophillius blinked, before frowning. “You really are telling the truth, aren’t you~”

 

“ _Xeno_ ~”

 

“No, Pandora. Something like that… something that far-fetched… it could only be true, and the only one mad enough to orchestrate something like that would be Dumbledore,” he sighed. “Alright… please come in.”

 

.

 

It had been eight hours since Sirius had placed his brother on that damned couch when Regulus finally began to stir.

 

“Siri~Sirius,” the younger corrected.

 

“Sshh… it’s OK. You go back to sleep.” Sirius cast a spell to make his brother more drowsy.

 

“’M kay.”

 

.

 

“Here we are,” Umbriidge glowed, showing off the large map with moving dots. “A tracked list of every Mudblood and Bloodtraitor in the country!”

 

“Ahh,” Harry felt sick looking at all the dots that he just _knew_ were being oppressed, probably tortured for fun knowing Voldemort’s lot. “Excellent.”

 

The island in the middle of the North Sea had a bunch of them all packed tightly together. Bingo, that must be Azkaban. He closed his eyes. “Thank you, Dolores. That will be all.”

 

The plump woman left the room, Harry transferred his memory into a vial and headed out, praying that Hermione and Ron had managed to find the pensieve they were to use for this.

 

.

 

“What were the other potions we needed?” Draco asked his godfather.

 

“Well… we brewed that healing one, and the Polyjuice Potions… it says here that we need a burning salve… no idea why we need that one, though.

 

.

 

“What are you children doing out of class!” Screeched an ugly, short woman with red hair and intimidating eyes.

 

“Um, s-sorry, miss!” Albus squeaked.

 

“What are your names?” she looked at Albus’s Slytherin tie and at James’s Gryffindor tie. “You!” she pointed at James. “You bloody Gryffindors, always running a muck as though you own the place.” She raised her wand, pointing it at him. “ _Incendio_!”

 

Albus reacted in the only way he thought rational, jumping in front of his brother to knock the wand out of the demon’s hands and getting burned in the process.

 

“ _Auguamenti_!” James shrieked, putting out his little brother. “ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” he slammed the older lady into the wall, checking to make sure that his brother was OK. “Hey, hey, it’s OK, Al… I think that that qualifies as our visit to the bloody school, let’s get out of here.”

 

“Wait… Jamie, let’s take one of the portraits back with us, I’m sure they’ll know what’s going on here.”

 

Of course. Of bloody course, trust Albus to be the one to save the day, he was every bit as smart as his namesake.

 

“OK,” James pulled a random one off of the wall. “Let’s go!”

 

.

 

“So this is Luna,” Lily smiled at the young girl.

 

“Yes, and she is everything to us. So please, whatever you’re here to ask us to do, remember that.”

 

“We want to offer you protection,” James stood. “A house… it’s Fideliused, just waiting for you to move in.”

 

“Why?”

 

“We need you to continue the Quibbler.”

 

“Bah! That was the stupidest thing that I ever did!”

 

“No! No it wasn’t! I can’t speak for this timeline, but in ours it gave everyone hope. Please. We’ll keep you safe, but for now people need hope, and only you can give it to them. People can’t just keep reading the Prophet, Gods know how corrupted that old rag is.”

 

“OK,” Xenophillius turned to look at his wife. “OK, I’ll do it. When do we leave?”

 

.

 

Three hours after the first incident, Regulus woke up again. This time, because the vitals spell that Sirius had cast on him came back OK, he allowed his brother to stay awake.

 

“How do you feel?” Sirius asked.

 

“Better. But my throat still hurts, can I have some water?”

 

“Only if you promise not to drink it from a lake full of Inferi,” Sirius grinned. He saw his brother’s eyes widen. “Too soon… sorry about that. _Aguamenti_ ,” he filled a glass on his brother’s~ gods above it was strange for him to think of him like that, and wasn’t that the sad part?~ bedside. “Here.”

 

He listened to Regulus drink for a while, before deciding that his brother had had enough. “Careful there, you haven’t eaten anything in a while, you’ll make yourself sick.”

 

After a moment of silence, Sirius finally felt brave enough to ask the question that had been burning on his mind.

 

“Hey, Reg?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“When we got that quest… you seemed oddly prepared for it… and you didn’t tell me where you were going out with Kreacher that first day, remember?”

 

“Yeah,” Regulus winced. “Sirius~”

 

“You were going there, weren’t you? That’s why you were wearing the locket.”

 

“Yes,” Regulus sighed, finally. “It’s why I hadn’t eaten. I couldn’t. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, the thought of doing what I was going to do was terrifying.”

 

Another moment of silence passed. “When-when Dumbledore said that there was ‘no need for martyrs [ _this_ ] time’… and he mentioned earlier that you (and Snape) were chosen because you died defying the Dark Lord…” Sirius’s voice caught in his throat. “You… you were… that was how you die in our timeline, right. The Inferi get you? What happened… did Kreacher not get you out on time?”

 

Regulus was silent.

 

“Regulus Arcturus Bl~”

 

“I was going to tell him to leave me.”

 

“ _What_!?”

 

“Yes, OK? Kreacher was supposed to leave me in there. Right before we were whisked away here, I’d told mother that I’d be back soon, before adding my year of death to the family tree,” he sounded shaken, but when Sirius looked, he realized that he was the only one crying.

 

“Why? _Gods above, Regulus, **why?**_ ”

 

“Because there was no point in living!” Regulus shouted at his brother. “Alive, I put everyone I loved at risk. There’s no leaving the Dark Lord, Sirius. Once you’re in, you’re in. Remember that? _You’re_ the one who told me that!”

 

“You could have come to me for help~ I would have gotten you help! _Dumbledore_ ~”

 

“Dumbledore, _what_? Sirius, I know that this is a hard concept for you to understand, but Dumbledore’s not an option for Slytherins. Ever. He helps _your kind out_ , sure, but he’s too much invested in a ‘Greater good’ to care about small chess pieces. And frankly, why should he? Why should we expect him to care for murderers and rapists and the like when he can protect the innocents? The ones who have _never committed any wrongs_ ~ golden boys like you, and Potter, and your bloody Werewolf friend!”

 

“Don’t speak about him that way just because you're frustrated!”

 

Regulus looked as though he were about to retort before taking a deep breath. “You’re right, I guess. But the fact remains. Slytherins work alone.”

 

“Even when it leads to their own death?”

 

“ _Especially_ when it leads to their own death.”


	4. Chapter 4

“You got it!” Harry grinned at Hermione and Ron holding the pensieve, “How did you get it here, though?”

 

“We stole brooms,” Ron grinned. “Ministry’s full of them.”

 

“Nice!”

 

.

 

“OK, so according to your memory, Azkaban should be over here,” Remus hummed, drawing a mini-island in the North Sea on the map. “That’s great. Now all we need is some Mappa Potion.”

 

“Mappa Potion?” Harry inquired.

 

“It’s something Sirius, James, Peter and I invented,” Remus grinned. “If you have the location of a certain area, all you need to do is pour some over the map and it’ll make it a _lot_ more detailed. After that, all we have to do is perform a few charms and we’ll have our Marauder’s Map of Azkaban.”

 

“Where will we get some?”

 

“To my knowledge, Dumbledore had Severus and Draco brew a bottle.”

 

.

 

“Thanks again, Severus, for Fideliusing the House,” Lily smiled at her ex-friend.

 

“Not a problem,” he didn’t meet her eyes. “I had help.”

 

.

 

“This is what I’m reduced to,” Draco sighed to himself, carrying a tray of food down into the bunker. “Feeding Weasleys…”

 

.

 

“Hello, there,” Teddy grinned at the man behind the counter. “I’m here for a wand, mine broke.”

 

“ID number?” the man turned to him.

 

“Ummm, excuse me?”

 

“ID number. You know, the one that Master Grindelwald implemented?”

 

“Ahh, yes, of course. Well, I’m sorry to say but I don’t quite have one. See, I’m in England on Holiday~ I’m actually from overseas. Canada, to be more precise.”

 

“Ahh, you’re one of those free-loving hipsters. I see, well then I’ll just be needing your passport.”

 

“But that’s all the way at home!”

 

“Then apparate.”

 

“I’m _fifteen_ , that’s not old enough to apparate,” Teddy sighed, he was going to hate himself for this. “Imperio,” he whispered.

 

A trance seemed to come over the man. “Now, I need you to tell me where Garrick Ollivander is.”

 

“Mr. Ollivander is kept in a cell in the Dark Lord’s Palace to serve as a personal wand maker.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

He left the shop, knowing that he’d gotten more out of the man than any of his cousins would. Or at least he hoped so, they really were too young to be using the Imperius curse~ Uncle Harry would have his head if Lily were caught performing it.

 

.

 

“What the bloody hell happened to you!?” Harry gaped at his future children who had apparated into the room Severus made potions in.

 

“OK, so Ollivander’s kept locked up in the Dark Lord’s Palace then?” Scorpius frowned as he and Teddy and Rose and Lily and Hugo walked in. “All we need then is a tracking~ _what the bloody hell happened to my~_ er, **_Albus_**!?” he screamed at James.

 

“Er, we were in Hogwarts and this batshit crazy woman cast an _incendio_ at me, and Albus tried to stop her and caught the brunt of the spell.”

 

Snape stared in awe at the burn salve that he had been instructed to brew and turned to Draco. “Well… I guess we know what it’s for now…” he whispered.

 

“Relax, I’ll be fine,” Albus grunted, moving stiffly to the couch. “I helped Fred test the bloody Blast-Ended Screwt’s cake for Merlin’s sake. If I could survive that, then I can survive this.”

 

“Fred?” Ginny blinked. Her brother was _dead_.

 

“Yeah… cousin Fred,” he frowned at his to-be mother. “As in George’s kid?”

 

“Oh, sorry,” Ginny blushed. She had totally discounted the fact that her other siblings would be having children. “Say, I know that this really isn’t the best time… but who else on my side had kids?”

 

Albus looked at his mother disbelievingly. “Uh, OK,” he frowned. “Well, you know about all of your children, and then of course Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione’s children… let’s see, there’s Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur have Dominique, Victoire and Louis; Uncle George and Auntie Angelina,” Ginny gasped. _OMG, she fucking knew it!_ “have Fred and Roxanne; Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey have Molly and Lucy, and that’s about it.”

 

“Charlie doesn’t have any?” she frowned.

 

“Please, mo~ er, Ginny,” Albus blushed, before smirking, “Everybody know that Uncle Charlie is married to his work.”

 

Ginny barked out a laugh. “True that.”

 

.

 

Regulus stared at the shower, shaking. He knew, of course, that he needed a good scrub, but unfortunately he was _bloody fucking terrified of that_ after that last task.

 

“Regulus!” he heard his brother call, irritated. “It’s been a _bloody hour_ , f you're not going to wash yourself then _bloody get out_!”

 

“There’s three shower stalls in here!” he yelled back.

 

“Yes, but I am _not_ showering while _you're_ in there! That’s bloody weird!”

 

Regulus sighed, walking out. He didn’t even understand what the huge problem was. He hadn’t been dragged under the water or anything, Sirius had gotten to him before that. So why did he have this sinking sensation whenever he was near a large body of water, the skin-crawling feeling of clammy, ghost arms all over him, struggling to pull him down into the murky depths of hell, far, far away from the surface.

 

Slytherins worked alone. Slytherins didn’t trust Gryffindors… then again, he had always been a terrible Slytherin, hadn’t he? He opened the book and stared at the mini-moving Dumbledore.

 

“Yes, Mr. Black?” Dumbledore smiled, noticing him. “Is there something the matter?”

 

“Yes… I want to know why I feel these ghost memories of clammy hands trying to drag me down every time I get near water.”

 

“Ahh, I feared that something like this would happen,” Dumbledore smiled sadly. “You see, you are not perfect humans in the sense that you are not your own. You are tied down to yourselves in the main timeline which I copied you from~ which is why we had to remove your replicas in cases where they could cause a problem, and also why your descendants being born is not in anyway linked to your success in this task.”

 

“So what you're saying is… the way I feel, it’s because of how I died in the main timeline?”

 

“Precisely. The rest will feel similar when they encounter those who kill them. For example, if Mr. Lupin were to encounter Mr. Dolohov in a fight… let’s just say that you should probably all get new wands, lest you meet the one who killed you in the main timeline. Because unlike you, your wand _does_ know who kills it on our earth, and it will switch loyalties immediately.”

 

“Who got killed by who?”

 

“Sirius by Bellatrix~ well, more accurately he was killed by the Veil~, Lily and James by Voldemort, you by Inferi, Remus by Dolohov and Severus by Voldemort as well.”

 

Regulus gasped. “ _No_! He-he _wouldn’t_ ~”

 

“Severus died fighting for the Greater Good. He knew what he was getting himself into.”

 

“Screw your bloody ‘Greater Good’.” Regulus grumbled, closing the book and tossing it aside.

 

.

 

“And voila,” Remus grinned at the fully functional map of Azkaban Prison. “There we go… what’s next?”

 

“I guess we’re taking our books to the pile,” Hermione smiled.

 

.

 

“That’s five down,” Lily glanced at the pile offhandedly. “Almost there.”

 

“Just out of curiosity, how _are_ they planning on breaking into The Dark Lord’s house?”

 

“Not a clue.”

 

.

 

“How do I look?” Teddy grinned.

 

“Like you transform into girls alarmingly often, Ted. Don’t be shy, mate, if you have something you'd like to tell me, I won’t judge,” Lily winked at her godbrother who swatted at her.

 

“You're just jealous because I make a prettier girl than you,” he teased, laughing and dodging her swat in the nick of time.

 

“Wow!” Scorpius blinked. “You look just like my great-aunt Bellatrix!”

 

“Thanks,” Teddy!Bella flashed a grin. “Now let’s just hope that the Dark Lord doesn’t want to sleep with me too, because that is _not_ part of the plan and I _will_ blow my cover under that circumstance!”

 

“Of course, of course. You’re Vicky’s and only Vicky’s,” Lily smiled. “Now go get ‘em, tiger!”

 

“Lils. Seriously. Please stop.”

 

.

 

“So what do you think that the next tasks will be?” James asked the rather impatient circle sitting around the books.”

 

“If I had to guess, probably rounding up more people and training them?” Sirius shrugged.

 

“I’d say more Horcrux-related stuff,” Regulus added.

 

“Horcrux?” Hermione gasped. “Did you~ what was your task?”

 

“Retrieving the locket.”

 

“Oh, my! Are you okay?”

 

“All better now, thanks,” he smiled.

 

Beside Hermione sat a semi-fuming Ron Weasley. Seriously, Hermione and Regulus had been flirting ever since that first task, Ron was beginning to think it more and more likely that the girl he’d wanted since Fourth Year was going to leave him. And of course she would, why wouldn’t she? Regulus was smarter, classier, _richer_ … and he… well, he was Ron. Who would ever pick _him_ over **_Regulus Black_**?

 

.

 

“Bella?” Voldemort frowned. “Why are you here? I thought that you were on holiday with your husband and children.”

 

“I’m sorry, my Lord,” BellaTed bowed (trying not to gag), “I couldn’t stand to be away from you so long.”

 

Voldemort scowled before slaping BellaTed across the face. “How stupid can you be? I _told_ you you had to go on that holiday! People might start to suspect us, you stupid girl!”

 

“I-I’m sorry, my Lord,” BellaTed whimpered, resisting the urge to pull out his wand and AK Voldemort. “Please… Please, I need you.”

 

“What you _need_ is another reminder of why obedience is a virtue and freedom of thought is a _vice_!” Voldemort hissed. “ _Crucio_!”

 

BellaTed’s body writhed in pain. “Now get up off of the floor, and rejoin your husband in Venice.”

 

“Yes, m-My Lord,” he whimpered, apparating into the dungeons of the House. He donned the invisibility cloak that Harry had leant him and rushed along the cells, quickly finding Ollivander. He transformed back into himself. “Hello, I’m here to get you out,” he whispered, magically undoing the tricky lock that Voldemort had placed on the cell door. “Come on, here we go. Under the cloak, that’s it.”

 

.

 

“Look at him,” Ron grumbled to no one in particular. “Flirting with her… Merlin he’s shameless.”

 

He heard a low chuckle and turned to his right to face his ex/to-be Potions Teacher. “What’re you laughing about?” he may be afraid of adult Snape, but this Snape was only about two years older than him.

 

“You’re jealous?”

 

“None of your bloody business!” Ron blushed.

 

“I wouldn’t be so jealous if I were you. Even if she liked him~ and I’m not saying she does~ he’d _never_ go out with her?”

 

Ron’s anger flared at that. Bloody blood-purity supremacists! Thinking that they were better than everyone. “She's worth ten of him! You Death Eaters and your blood supremacy!”

 

“Aaactually, he wouldn’t date her because she’s got lady bits, but you're not wrong. He can be a bit biased against muggleborns.”

 

That caught Ron’s attention. “ _What?”_

_“_ Regulus is _gay_ , like, full-blown gay, not bisexual-confused-for-gay gay.”

 

“You’re kidding.”

 

“I don’t kid.”

 

Ron didn’t doubt that.

.

“We’re back!” Teddy grinned, removing the cloak from both him and Ollivander, as he led the old man into the underground bunker.

 

“Garrick!” Molly Weasley cried. “What are you~ how did you~?”

 

“This nice lad broke me out. Molly… I need~ I need water,” Ollivander wheezed.

 

“Of course, of course.”

 

.

 

“Well _I_ say there’ll probably be something in there about a mass breakout from Azkaban or something~ why else would Dumbledore have us conjure up a map?” Draco asked indignantly.

 

“That’d be mental! We haven’t got the horsepower to pull something like that off,” Ron protested.

 

Teddy walked into the room, a smile on his face, and placed the last book on top of the pile, which glowed and split up into four.

 

“I’ve got it,” he volunteered, already being closer to the pile than any of the others. “Hmmm. Let’s see. Group 1, that’d be Alby, Jamie, Lily and me. _Nice_!; then Group 2 is Remus, Sirius,” the two grinned at each other, _and James!_ “And Regulus.”

 

“What!?” Sirius spluttered in outrage.

 

“Not _again_ , there **_must_** be some kind of rule against this!” Regulus groaned.

 

“I’m just telling you what the book told me. Then it’s Severus, Lily, James, Hugo, Ron, Hermione, Rose, Harry and Ginny.”

 

“Bloody hell that’s a big group!” Ron gawked.

 

 

"So the last group's my son and me then?" Draco nodded, taking the book from Teddy. "Nice."

.

 

“I’ll read,” Remus volunteered, given the amount of heated glaring going on between the two brothers. Geez, you would never have guessed that they’d just finished a deadly quest together. “ _Congratulations on completing your second task! Now, making sure to keep the Horcrux~_ what’s that?”

 

“We’ll tell you later,” Regulus replied before Sirius could get a word out, earning a glare from his brother.

_“Now,”_ Remus continued, “ _making sure to keep the Horcrux safe (I would advise to keep it with Kreacher), you need a device powerful enough to destroy the Horcrux, and the other ones that you’ll collect. Regretfully, the Sword of Gryffindor resides within the Sorting Hat which is in Hogwarts. However, there are other powerful devices, such as basilisk venom_ ,” Regulus felt his heart sink. He only knew of one person who had pure, potent basilisk venom…

 

“ _To my knowledge, there is but one House that holds it, House Rosier_ ,” Sirius frowned at the way his brother stared at the ground. What the fuck was up with that weirdo?

 

“ _I have instructed Professor McGonnagal to round up the three of you from this dimension and place them under a sleeping potion with a House Elf guarding them._

_“In this dimension, Michael Rosier and May Rosier are both dead, their eldest son, Evan, inhabits the house with his family. Remus and Sirius are slaves to the Rosiers, and Mr. Black is, officially, Mr. Rosier_ ~”

 

“ _What_!?” Sirius screeched. “But~ _how_? You’re not… are-are you?”

 

“Yes, Sirius, I’m gay,” Regulus rolled his eyes. “And I suppose that in this dimension, Evan and I settle down together.”

 

“Settle down~ this di~ _What are you saying_?”

 

“Siri-er, Sirius, in our dimension I’m sort of dating Evan.”

 

“ _Sort of_!?”

 

“Yeah, we’ve been going through a rough patch… I guess that in this world we recover from that?”

 

“Boys! Focus, we need to infiltrate House Rosier. We can’t just go in looking the way we do~ in this dimension we’d be in our _thirties_!”

 

“So I’ll get an ageing potion from Severus,” Regulus got up and walked away. “I’ll be back soon.”

 

As soon as his brother was out of the room, Sirius made a gagging noise. “Sirius, you know, just because he’s gay doesn’t mean that he’s dating Severus,” Remus smirked fondly at his best-friend.

 

“I know, Moony, I just can’t get over the fact that… that…”

 

“That you didn’t know something this big about his life?” Remus ran a hand through Sirius’s hair. “You guys weren’t exactly close.”

 

“Well yeah, but _this_? How did I not see the signs~”

 

“OK, I’m going to stop you right there before you start stereotyping. Sirius, its OK that you didn’t know. You know now. Isn’t that what matters?”

 

“No. Yes. Maybe? I don’t know, there’s so little that I know about him! Remember when we got here and he was being dodgy when I asked him where he’d been planning on going that was so bad he hadn’t been eating? Turns out he was going into a cave to retrieve one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes~”

 

“~Still don’t know what those are.”

 

“Oh, right, sorry. Those are pieces of someone’s soul that got split up and are made to make sure that the person can be brought back to life. We couldn’t defeat Him if any of His horcruxes were still alive.”

 

“So that’s good, right?”

 

“He wasn’t planning on leaving the cave, though. He'd wanted to die in there.”

 

“Oh. Less good.”

 

“Yup.

.

 

“So we’re going to be helping Ollivander craft wands then,” Scorpius smiled. “Neat. It gives me a chance to get to know you better.”

 

“What? We don’t talk in the future,” Draco snorted to mask his fear.

 

“We… well, we did. But then mum died,” Scorpius shrugged.

 

“I’m… I’m sorry about that,” Draco said sincerely. “Really, I am. That can’t have been easy on you.”

 

“It wasn’t. But I had you… I had you and I had Albus.”

 

“Yeah, I still can’t believe that my son is friends with a _Potter_ of all people.”

 

“Well, he _is_ in Slytherin.”

 

“True, I suppose that he isn’t all bad.”

 

“He’s great,” and I’d be happy to tell you more if Albus was chill with you guys knowing that we’re in a relationship, but even though I _really_ want to tell you, I have to respect my boyfriend’s wishes.


	5. Chapter 5

“But how are we even _meant_ to launch a mass prison break from Azkaban? There’s like twelve of us!” Ron cried.

 

“Nine, actually,” Hermione sighed. “Maybe we could take Portkeys… does anybody here know how to make a Portkey?”

 

“I do,” both Lily and Snape said at the same time, causing the latter to blush.

 

“Great, we’ll make it so that there’s a Portkey with each of us. If we can fit about eight people to each Portkey… that’s seventy-two people~”

 

“sixty-three, actually,” Snape interrupted. “Since one of each of us is going to be going with them, I presume.”

 

“I was actually thinking that we could take broomsticks~ since we need a way to get there.”

 

“But broomsticks can be seen,” James frowned.

 

“We’ll enchant them. Oh, and Thestrals! We could take a herd of Thestrals with us to carry even more people.”

 

“OK, so we’ve got broomsticks, Thestrals and Portkeys… but where are we going to find them~ the Thestrals and broomsticks, I mean?” Rose frowned.

 

“We could go scouting. We’ll split up~ those who've seen death will look for Thestrals, and those from 2022 can go in another group to find Brooms.”

 

“What makes you think that we haven’t seen death!?” Hugo protested.

 

“Oh please, your year is cushy~ we just finished a war and they're in the middle of one.”

 

.

 

“ _In order to destroy the Horcruxes, you’ll need the Sword of Gryffindor. Your task is to infiltrate Hogwarts and steal it, or rather the Sorting Hat, which . As none of you exist in this dimension, you will be relatively unnoticeable~ however the Headmaster, Antonin Dolohov, is rather good with faces, as is his right-hand, Alecto Carrow. I would personally recommend Polyjuice potion, however your saving grace is that the four of you resemble four students at the school… or more accurately, three of you do, and one of you can change their appearance at will. Find Brian Rosier, Sheila Brown, Winston Brown and anyone that Teddy would like to double as, and a mild charm should enable you to blend in perfectly well._

_“Good luck!”_ Teddy finished.

 

“OK,” he hummed. “OK, I think I could probably disguise myself as Alecto Carrow, that would give me access to the office… do we have a way in though? I don’t know the password.”

 

“When you disguise yourself as her we could probably get it out from one of the teachers,” Lily shrugged. “If she’s the Headmaster’s right hand they’d be too scared of you to question it, I assume.”

 

“We also have a portrait that we stole from Hogwarts,” James piped up.

 

“Excellent! We can gather information from it, where is it?”

 

“Right here,” he produced the painting before groaning. “Oh shit, I grabbed Sir Cadogan!”

 

“Why hello there?” the crazed knight grinned. “And what brings you brave questers here? Come searching for answers?”

 

“Er,” James looked at his godbrother for help.

 

“Yes, brave knight, we are here to seek your trusty guidance,” trust a Hufflepuff to know how to flatter.

 

“Bravo! You- you seem full of the righteous glory carried by a true quester at heart! What’s your name, son?”

 

“Teddy Lupin.”

 

“Lupin!” the knight roared in disbelief. “Why, of course~ you must be related to Remus Lupin!”

 

“Yes, he was my father.

 

“Of course, of course! I could see it in you the moment I saw you! You are a brave and wise man like your father! What a pity he was captured and taken as a slave…”

 

“I’m sure he’s still fighting!” Teddy looked at _his_ godsiblings (mainly Albus: weren’t Slytherins supposed to be the cunning ones?) this time.

 

Albus stepped forwards. “Brave knight, we were wondering if you could give us details about Hogwarts since Voldemort won the war.”

 

The knight gasped, raising his sword and shield as though he were expecting an ambush. “You dare speak his name? Why then, you folks must be braver than I thought! Why, I doubt that I’ve~”

 

“Information, please,” Albus’s mouth was a tight-line, and Teddy had no doubt that that ‘please’ had been more than a little force.

 

“Ahh, yes, well. Hmmm, let’s see, yes, well… the new Headmaster is Antonin Dolohov, his right-hand~ and rumored girlfriend~ is Alecto Carrow, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts and is the head of _Slytherin_ , urgh; her brother, Amycus, teaches Potions~ although he’s god-awful at it~ Binns is still at it with History of Magic; Muggle Studies is run by Felicity Nott and had mainly become a class where the hope of tomorrow is taught government-sponsored propaganda against muggles; Filch is still around, because Death Eaters like the idea of giving people like him lowly jobs; Frederich Lane teaches Herbology; Charms, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures and Runes were taken out of the syllabus entirely~”

 

“ _What_!?” the four teen-dults screamed.

 

“Yes, I know. The Dark Lord only really wanted the darker subjects, but Lord Grindelwald insisted on a bit of variety, as it is his belief that magical students be taught everything that they can.”

 

“They sound very different, ideologically I mean,” Teddy frowned.

 

“Why of course! The only thing that those two fiends have in common is that they both agree that if one group is going to be oppressed, it shouldn’t be wizards.”

 

.

 

“Here, Thestral Thestral!” Ron called out, hands cupping the sides of his mouth in an attempt to project his voice.

 

“ _Ronald_!” Hermione barked, whacking him upside the head.

 

“Oww! What'cha do that for?” he groaned, rubbing his head.

 

“You're going to attract attention to us!”

 

“Well how else’re we going to get them to come to us.”

 

“ _They’re_ not who you're going to attract!”

 

“They really were made for each other. Remind me of you and me,” James Potter 1 grinned at his wife.

 

“How so?”

 

“Just the way that he’s hopelessly in love with her, and she’s ever fond of him.”

 

.

 

“ _That_ ’s Alecto Carrow!? She’s the bitch that shot that spell at me that hit Albie!” James growled.

 

“What the fuck!?” his sister joined. “She should be in Azkaban! How dare she use magic to torture students!?”

 

“Don’t worry,” Teddy smirked evilly, “They’ll be plenty of time to get revenge on her as soon as we’re done with our quest.”

 

“I really don’t think that it’s a good idea to waste time like that,” Albus frowned. “The more time we spend here the more likely it is that The Dark Lord, Grindelwald or Delphini will catch onto us and our advantage over them will be gone.”

 

“But she _hurt you_ ,” Teddy growled. “You’re our _broth~_ er, well, um,” he blushed. “You're _their_ brother… and my _godbrother_!”

 

“It’s OK,” he smiled kindly at Teddy. “Even if we’re not related by blood, you’re always going to be one of us.”

 

“Eurgh, why’d you have to go and make that sappy, Al?” James scrunched his nose up at his little brother.

 

“You like it when I'm sappy, you ponce!” he laughed. “Let’s go get the hat!”

 

.

 

“You age well,” Sirius smirked at Remus.

 

“As do you.”

 

“Don’t you think we should cast an Eye of the Beholder spell… just for a bit of added protection?” Regulus voiced.

 

“Why’d we need to do that?”

 

“Well, whether we like it or not, we don’t _really_ know **_exactly_** what we look like. For example, you guys look healthy, but as slaves you’re likely to be malnourished.”

 

“Your brother’s right. We should consider it.”

 

“Fine,” Sirius raised his wand, making a circle so as to charm all three of them, “ _Quid vis videre_!”

 

.

 

“The art of wandmaking is quite tricky,” Ollivander hummed to himself. “However, if Dumbledore thinks that you two are up for it… I suppose that it’s worth a shot. How many wands do we need, anyways?”

 

“We’re not sure at the moment, but the book says that we should start with two-hundred,” Draco replied casually, as though he’d just said they only needed two.

 

“Why~ are you~” Ollivander took a moment to collect himself. “Very well then. First, I need you to both bring me a branch from a yew tree and… hm… I don’t suppose that there are any unicorns around here?”

 

“No, but in the future, your trainee, Willard, he used Kelpie Hair.” Scorpius offered.

 

“Bah! Kelpie Hair wands prove fickle, they go with the flow, if you know what I mean,” Ollivander rolled his eyes. “Still, I suppose that that’s the best that we can do for now. I want you two to get the wood and hair… then I shall teach you how to make a wand.”

 

.

 

“ _Imperio_!” Hugo cast at the store-owner.

 

“Hugo! You can _not_ just _Imperius_ somebody!”

 

“This is _war_ , Rose, morals are for the losing side. Now come on, grab all the brooms you can, and frankly, just be happy that I didn’t AK him.”

 

Rose snorted. “Yeah, I’m _sure_ that you could pull that one off.”

 

“Is that a challenge?”

 

“Merlin no! Hugo… Hugo what’s with you? you're weird on a good day… but _this_?”

 

“Well I’m _sorry_ , Rose, but I hope that you realize that when our quest is over, everyone here is going to cease to exist anyways. Killing someone is not going to make a difference when our entire task is to basically kill the entire earth.”

 

Rose took a deep breath and sighed. “Look… Hugo, we may _essentially_ be killing everyone on this planet, but we’re doing it indirectly and for their own good.

 

“Whose good, Rose? Whose?”

 

.

 

“Are you _sure_ that this is the right place?” Sirius frowned at the awfully mundane exterior of what was supposedly the Rosier’s house.

 

“Positive. The Rosiers own four properties throughout England. Rosier Manse, this place, the one up near Shrewsburry and the one over in Sussex. The Manse is where his grandparents live~ and since I don’t remember the letter saying that they're dead, I’d have to assume he lives in this one… he did always like London.”

 

Sirius gazed at Remus, desperately trying to persuade him to just get it over with and chop of his head so that he wouldn’t have to listen to details about his brother’s love life.

 

Regulus let out two large knocks against the big, heavy wooden door. A pop sounded, and in front of them appeared a greyish-purpley shrivelle up figure… aka a House Elf.

 

“Ahh! Master Regulus is back! Oh joy oh joy!”

 

“Glad to see you too, Shroomey,” Regulus smiled down at her. Same as in his dimension.

 

“Master Evan will be so thrilled! Oh boy, oh boy!” the House Elf bounced up and down in joy, opening the door and ushering the three of them in.

 

They heard footsteps moving quickly down the stairs… and Regulus’s heart caught in his throat. There he was… Evan Rosier, except this one looked nothing like his. Where tired eyes, flat hair and a semi-maniacal grin should’ve been were the same bright eyes, bouncy hair and cocksure grin that Regulus had fallen in love with.

 

Thirty suited Evan, he thought. Thirty, the age that in his dimension he would never get to see given the task he had been _just_ about to depart on.

 

“Regulus!” the man embraced him. “Honey, I’ve missed you! I was so worried when you didn’t answer my messages~ _Zeta_ was freaking out~”

 

“Zeta?”

 

“Yeah, silly. Why are you surprised, she’s fucking in love with you~ I swear that she’d marry you if you weren’t her papa!”

 

“Papa?”

 

“Hey, you're the one that chose the name,” Evan’s grin faltered. “Reg… is something wrong?”

 

“No, just~ just good to be back, is all.”

 

“Great!” Evan turned to Sirius and Remus. “Go fetch us tea!”

 

Remus nodded, dragging Sirius out of the room.

 

“Come on, let’s go upstairs,” Evan smiled at Regulus.

 

“Of course, my love.”

 

“You haven’t called me that since Orion was born.”

 

“Well, I’m sorry, love. Children are just really stressful.”

 

“That they are. Only eleven more years and they’ll both be off to Hogwarts.”

 

“Yeah,” Regulus smiled, using every legilemency trick Severus had ever taught him to learn everything that he could from Evan’s mind.

 

That still wasn’t enough to prepare him for the sudden rush he felt when Evan led them into the room with a crib in it… the crib holding a baby within it, of course.

 

“C’mon now,” Evan wrapped his arms around Regulus’s waist in a hug, planting a kiss on the back of his neck, the feeling uncomfortably domestic. “You know how grumpy ‘Rion gets when he spends time away from you… and let me tell you, handling him the past six days has _not_ been easy, I almost forgot what we were fighting about,” Evan chuckled.

 

“Yeah, haha,” Regulus laughed nervously. This was it. His and Evan’s legendary fights, one of about a _zillion_ reasons that their relationship in the main timeline had been icy for the past few weeks. “Being here with you… I feel the same way, Ev,” he turned around and smiled in a way that he knew worked on his Evan. “Merlin, I missed you!”

 

“And I you,” Evan smiled lovingly at the man masquerading as his husband. “So, how was Canterburry?”

 

 _Canterburry_? Uhh… ooh! Wait! that was where Narcissa and Lucius lived!

 

“Wonderful,” Regulus smiled with casual grace. “Narcissa and Lucius send their regards.”

 

“And what of young Draco?”

 

“Well,” who was that? Uh… Draco? Draco as in the dude back at HQ Draco? How old was he... uh… “He’s as strapping as ever. A true Slyherin if I ever saw one. Due to start Hogwarts soon,” that was if Regulus was correct and Draco was born in the latter half of the year. And if he wasn’t… well, then Regulus figured he’d just Imperius Evan and be done with it.

 

“Hmmm, couldn’t agree more. And Zeta will be joining him in four years! Isn’t that wonderful?” Evan hummed, smiling. “Of course, if Avery’s boy so much as _looks_ her way, I’ll~”

 

“Do nothing because they would wind up in a respectable pureblood marriage,” Regulus chastised.

 

“Mmm, I love it when you get all self-righteous with me,” Evan leaned in and nipped his ear. “What’s say you and I go back to our room to… celebrate your return?”

 

“What about ‘Ri?” Regulus panicked. Shit, shit, shit, if the magic didn’t wear off, then he’s sure as hell that Sirius or Lupin would get them caught or something if this mission took longer than it absolutely needed to. And even if they didn’t, Regulus was sure that Sirius would never let him hear the end of it. “And Zeta, where is she? I miss my babies.”

 

“Ah, why of course,” Evan smiled. “ _Zeta_! Darling, Papa’s home!”

 

A door creaked open and a little girl who looked about seven (or maybe he was being biased based on Evan’s prior comment) ran out.

 

“Mummy!” she threw her hands around Regulus’s midsection. He felt his eyes well up a bit.

 

“ _Papa_ ,” he corrected, only to hear a snort from Evan.

 

“Some things never change…” the blonde smiled faintly. “I’ll go pick up Orion, we can all go lie down together.”

 

Regulus suddenly felt heartsick. This… this family here… he could have all of this…

 

 _Wake up_ , a voice screamed in his head _, wake up and smell the roses, kiddo! This isn’t… this isn’t our Evan, and it never will be… the man that we love died **years** ago, and is naught more than a walking skeleton now, it’d be stupid to pretend otherwise. Come on, Reg, don’t be stupid_.

 

“Of course, just give me a moment, though. I want to quickly grab something from downstairs.”

 

“Oh, well, just have one of the slaves bring it up for you,” Evan frowned.

 

“I’ve been sitting all day. Really, I’ll be there in just a minute.”

 

Evan didn’t look happy, but he nodded and took the two young children off to what Regulus assumed was their room, now that Evan’s parents were dead.

 

Regulus quickly made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where he was greeted by the sight of Remus and Sirius struggling to make a pot of tea.

 

“Oh for Merlin’s sake,” Regulus rolled his eyes. “C’mon, let’s go. The potion’s lab is in the basement~ and all you bloody have to do is heat the fucking water and put a teabag in it, is that so bloody hard?”

 

Judging by the slight burn on Lupin’s face, Regulus determined that yes, yes it clearly _was_ that bloody hard.

 

“ _Quickly_ , Evan’s waiting for me.”

 

“You’re going back?” Sirius had a weird look on his face.

 

“No, of course not,” Regulus knew how defensive he sounded, but in his defense everything his brother had ever said to him seemed like an attack. “ _Hurry_!”

 

He decided to quit waiting around for them and began walking down to where he knew that the trap door was hidden.

 

He ushered the two of them in, closing the door behind him and muttering a quick _Lumos Maxima_.

 

He looked at the two stunned men with a small bit of satisfaction. Yes, he knew this place was amazing.

 

He walked over to where the fencing that contained the Large Pewter Cauldron stood, opening the cabinets and going through the ingredients listed in alphabetical order until… ah! He picked up the small vial of basilisk venom, pocketing it and turning around to lead the men back upstairs when the door opened.

 

“Reg… what’re you doing down here?”

 

.

 

“Password, password,” Teddy muttered as loudly as he could, standing in the teacher’s lounge. “Urgh! I've forgotten the bloody password!” he spun on an unsuspecting witch, pointing his wand at her (and feeling terrible all the while). “ _You_!” he snarled. “What’s the password!?”

 

“P-P-Pureblood,” the lady cried in terror.

 

“Ah, of course,” Teddy rolled his eyes, leaving the room and walking to where he knew that the Headmaster’s office was located.

 

Albus, James and Lily had been tasked with creating a diversion, something that the Potter siblings knew how to do better than anyone… or at least James and Lily did, Albus was really just there to knock out any teachers that tried to interfere and steal their wands.

 

.

 

“Well done, lads,” Ollivander smiled at the monstrosities that Draco and his son had created. “You’re getting there. You just need a bit more practice. Thank you for all of the supplies, I’ve managed to create two wands, with more coming on the way, of course.”

 

“Of course,” Draco muttered, earning a glare from his son.

 

“Thank you, sir. We look forward to helping you in any way which you require in the weeks to come,” he did a small bow.

 

“Ahh, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a Pureblood with such manners,” Ollivander smiled. “I wish you the best, both of you.”

 

.

 

“OK, so we’ve got our herd of Thestrals and our broomsticks. So now what?” Potter scratched his head.

 

“Now we find out where our people are being held,” Evans grabbed the map that the others had made. “And we bring them home.”

 

“I love it when you get righteous.”

 

.

 

“What in Merlin’s name happened here!?” screeched Antonin Dolohov, racing into the hallway as fast as any fifty-year-old could run.

 

“Sir, _sir_!” James begged. “Sir, she _punched_ me!” he pointed to his sister.

 

“ _Punched_!?” Dolohov growled. “ _Muggles_ punch!” he pointed his wand at Lily and James feared for a moment that they had made a grave mistake in their decision for a distraction. “ _Cruci~_ ” suddenly Dolohov went still before falling over in a way not dissimilar to a domino being knocked down.

 

“I can’t believe that they let teachers ‘Crucio’ students!” Albus fumed.

 

“Al! Quickly, there are students around!”

 

“Relax, I’ve already taken care of all of them,” he gestured around to all of the stunned students. “Now come on, I’m rubbish at charms, so you two need to obliviate everyone.”

 

.

 

Regulus mentally cast a quick _Sectumsempra_ on himself, knowing that he didn’t know the spell well enough to leave a deep mark.

 

“Ev, uh, I’m sorry I was taking so long,” he held up his arm, showing the still-bleeding cut, “But I tripped and fell, so I came down here to look for dittany.”

 

“And you brought them with you?” Evan frowned, glancing between Remus and Sirius.

 

“I couldn’t remember where the dittany was. It _has_ been a while, dear.”

 

Regulus didn’t have to look behind him to know that Sirius probably looked nauseous.

 

Evan sighed. “C’mere, I’ll fix it.” Regulus walked dutifully forwards. Evan pointed his wand at the gushing cut and whispered a few spells. “C’mon, dear. The children are waiting.”

 

“Children?” Sirius couldn’t stop himself.

 

Evan’s head jerked up. “You’ve been rather mouthy today, I guess that I should teach you a lesson.” He pointed his wand at Sirius. “ _Flagell~_!”

 

Before he could finish the spell, however, he was knocked to the ground, Regulus standing behind him, casting a cushioning charm as his not-quite-boyfriend/husband fell unconscious.

 

“Come on,” he growled at Sirius and Lupin, clutching the hand that had just knocked Evan out. “Come on, before he wakes up,” he cast a quick spell to modify Evan’s memory to one in which he never returned and Evan passed out drunk in the basement, “You can’t apparate into _any_ of the Rosier homes, it was made that way _centuries_ ago, and to date nobody knows how to undo it. We’ll have to leave through the front door.”

 

They ran up the stairs only to see a small girl with black hair and grey eyes blocking the front door.

 

“Mummy… where’re you going with them?”

 

“ _Papa_ , and we’re going out.”

 

“But you just got home! Where’s father?”

 

“Downstairs, sweetling. Now please move, we _really_ do need to leave,” he stressed.

 

“No,” she protested. “Father! _Father_! Shroomey! Help! Mummy’s trying to leave!”

 

Regulus had sworn to himself since he was a small child that he would _never_ use his wand on his children. His hands, however, were fair game.

 

He picked up the struggling child, moved her to the side, and opened the door.

 

“Come on, quickly.” He turned to his brother. “Sirius… Sirius I can’t… I can’t obliviate her. Can you, please?”

 

Sirius nodded and moved to obliviate his niece.

 

.

 

“You got it!” Lily grinned at her godbrother.

 

“Yep! Almost got kissed by someone named ‘Amycus’ though,” Teddy grimaced.

 

“Eurgh!” James shuddered.

 

.

 

“Bravo!” Ollivander applauded. “Well done.”

 

Draco and Scorpius both had a fully-made wand in front of them… that did absolutely nothing.

 

“Now what?” Draco frowned holding the useless stick up as though it were a grimy sock.

 

“Now, we must soak these for one night in river water, given that we used coral and shellfish as the core.”

 

“So we gather some water and bring it here?” Scorpius.

 

“No, no, of course not, it would cease to count as river water if it was here. No, you two need to find a river and bury it in the river bed overnight. It requires nature’s energy for a jumpstart.”

 

“Ah,” Draco nodded at the loopy old man as though he understood every word he’d just said. “Of course. Nature’s energy.”

 

.

 

“Urgh, how much _longer_!?” Ron groaned. “I can barely feel my legs!”

 

“Patience, Ronald. According to the map we still have another three hours of flying!”

 

“ _Merlin’s Beard_!” Ron began to let out a string of swear words.

 

“Ronald! _Language_!”

 

.

 

“Are we going to talk about it?”

 

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

 

“Reg~”

 

“Can it, will you Sirius?” Regulus glared at his older brother. “There’s _nothing_ to talk about.”

 

“You had~ _have_ a family.”

 

“No, no I don’t, and you know why?”

 

“Because you were going to commit suicide.”

 

“Because Evan and I _have_ no future!”

 

“What are you talking about? You bloody marry him!”

 

“Yeah, in a world wherein I never find out about Horcruxes and Voldemort wins… seems realistic enough!”

 

“What’s wrong with you!? It’s like you don’t _want_ to be happy!”

 

“Well what’s it to you!? We’re _not brothers_ anymore, Sirius, maybe you’ve forgotten that!” he stormed off.

 

Albus turned to Remus. “Yeesh, what happened there?”

 

“My honest opinion?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“They both care about each other… but there’s a lot of hurt there, on both of their sides. This causes them to have semi-violent outbursts~ thankfully no one hit someone this time. In this case, Regulus just punched someone who in our universe he’s in love with because they were going to curse Sirius, and they're avoiding talking about it.”

 

“Is that even healthy?”

 

“Fuck no. But nothing about the Black Family is healthy, from their DNA to the way that they handle problems.”

 

“Do you want to grab something to eat?”

 

“Of course, I’m starving!”


	6. Chapter 6

“Look, Albus, you don’t need to be worried. I’m sure that your parents will be just fine with you being gay.”

 

“How would you know that?”

 

“Well, they seem like lovely people, and besides, even if they _don’t_ accept you, what’s the worst that can happen?”

 

“A worse version of what happened the last time?”

 

“What _did_ happen the last time?”

 

“Well, Scorpius and I told our parents by the platform… which probably wasn’t a good idea. My parents didn’t do anything, but when we got home Dad started screaming at me~ frankly, I believe he was more angry about me dating a Malfoy than anything~”

 

“Then why are you so scared? Surely he’ll accept you.”

 

“It’s not so much the coming out that scares me~ although believe me it does~ it’s the fact that they _just_ finished their war, and in case my memory’s failing me I don’t believe that the two of them have exchanged a pair of words since this ordeal begun.”

 

“You need to give them time to adjust to this, believe me. But I’m sure that whatever happens, he’ll accept you… even if you are dating a Malfoy.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Say, I don’t see the others here… why aren’t you with your group?”

 

“Oh, the last part of our task is to draw the sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat~ emphasis on the _Gryffindor_ part.”

 

“Ah. Say, you guys seem pretty close with my son? To-be-son, I suppose.”

 

“Yeah, well, you and Tonks died fighting in the war, and since you'd proclaimed my father Teddy’s godfather, we kind of grew up together~ he babysat _a lot_.”

 

“Oh. Well that’s nice.”

 

“Yeah… he’s a lot like you, you know.”

 

“Oh? How so?

 

“The brooding type that treads too carefully, even when they're around people who love them.”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“No, it’s alright. My father told me about you when I was younger, I understand why you feel the need to be so cautious… but I just think that you ought to know that you are safe here… with us.”

 

.

 

“They’re done.” Draco informed his son. “It’s morning time, go get them.”

 

“Why me?”

 

“Well I’m not going to do it.”

 

“And why ever not?”

 

“Malfoys don’t do dirty work.”

 

“You helped yesterday. And _I_ ’m a Malfoy too.”

 

“Because I used magic. We can’t use magic to extract them or it’ll upset the magical field on the wands. And you’re not a Malfoy _yet_ , remember, you don’t quite exist in this universe.”

 

“Well you’re not from it either. Come on, Draco~”

 

“Father.”

 

“What?”

 

“Father. I am your _father_.”

 

“Uhm, I believe that _you_ just pointed out that I’m not born yet. Therefore, at this present moment, I am not truly your son.”

 

“What sort of backwards logic is that?”

 

“The kind that’s going to make you get off of your bloody lazy arse and take care of yourself for a change.”

 

“How is _this_ taking care of myself?”

 

“Taking care of yourself involves doing the tasks you have been assigned solo, you dependent waste of space.”

 

“What’s gotten into you?”

 

“What’s gotten into _you_!?”

 

“I’m same as ever!”

 

“ _My_ father is _way_ more independent than you, and has always taught me to be similar!”

 

“Well I’m _not_ your father!”

 

“Yes you are, Draco!”

 

“You see! You call me ‘Draco’ and yet you say that I am your father!”

 

“We’re about the same age here!”

 

“Well then I suppose that I don’t qualify as your father then!”

 

“Urgh! You’re being impossible! You know what~ I’m going to go get _my_ wand. You can retrieve your own one!”

 

.

 

“We’re here!” Hermione shouted back. “Everyone get ready! Grab ten people and get to a portkey. I trust that we can all cast Patronuses?”

 

Rose and Hugo glanced at one another worriedly. What was a ‘Patronus’?

 

“Let’s go!” Potter shouted.

 

.

 

“We got it,” James grinned, holding up the sword of Gryffindor.

 

“Excellent work. Now we just have to make sure that we don’t lose it.”

 

.

 

“ _Expecto Patronum_!” Harry and Ginny screamed together (at this point even Ron had to admit that they’d make a great married couple, the two were a united front).

 

White light surrounded the area as from all corners of Azkaban similar spells were cast. The prisoners looked first to be confused, then scared.

 

“We’re busting you lot out of here~ _Reducto_!” Harry cast at the shackles on the nearest prisoner.

 

Within moments alarm charms sprung into action. Within moments Death Eaters would arrive.

 

Rose and Hugo were the first to be sent off, having rescued ten people each and placed an additional eight people on brooms (two per broom) and one on the back of their getaway Thestral. They'd been aided by a rather anxious Ron and Hermione who, despite not having had kids yet, wanted their future children out of harm’s way as quickly as possible.

 

By then Death Eaters had begun to show up.

 

Harry glanced to where Snape was fighting Mulciber. The young Snape thankfully didn’t need to hide his face as there was no fucking way any of the Death Eaters would go ‘hey, Snape. So we saw a younger version of yourself in Azkaban, start talking’ hell, he doubted that they’d even be able to connect the dots.

 

Ginny was locked in a fierce battle against… against Umbridge.

 

He deflected a spell thrown at him by Rookwood, finally getting to his own battle.

 

.

 

“What happened between you and your dad?” Albus frowned.

 

“Let’s just say… things got pretty heated. And my father being the insufferable dolt that he is at this age doesn’t know any drying spells because _of course_ they didn’t quite fit in with the ‘family curriculum’.”

 

“Shouldn’t you be helping him then… as a reward for doing something for himself?”

 

“I should, but I’ll get it next time. Right now I’m still kind of angry at him. And I also doubt that that river water was clean… come have a shower with me?”

 

“Sure.”

 

.

 

“Where the bloody hell did they come from?” James gaped at the twenty people he most definitely _did not_ know who stood in the bunker.

 

“Ahh… it seems as though there has been a mass break out from Azkaban,” Ollivander smiled.

 

“Azkaban? _Azkaban_? Hell, more like. They’re all so bloody lifeless!”

 

“Ahh, yes. That would be the dementors. They’re nasty little things, really. Want nothing more than to suck up all the happiness out of this world~ oddly enough though, they used to be used in the past as a way to ground people who wouldn’t stop daydreaming.”

 

“Ah… yeah, we learned about dementors in our fifth year OWLs.”

 

“I didn’t know that that was on the syllabus.”

 

“Well, it was in our year, but I’m not entirely sure about other years.”

 

“And what year might that be, if I may ask?”

 

“Aahhh… let’s see, two years ago, so… 2020.”

 

“ _2020_!?”

 

“Yeah, see. My group and I come from the future, my dad’s group from the… not so far-away future, and my grandad’s group from the past.”

 

“James is your _grandfather_? That’s rather peculiar. In our world he and Lily both died alongside baby Harry.”

 

“Do you… do you know how my father died?”

 

“Thrown out of a window and then run over, if I remember Dumble’s words correctly.”

 

“Dumble?”

 

“Well we can’t very well go around saying his name, now can we. Rumor has it that a taboo was placed on it.”

 

“But this place, this area, it’s impenetrable.”

 

“… you haven’t written your NEWTs yet, have you?”

 

“No.”

 

“Ah, well that would explain why you don’t know that a taboo allows the caster to find those who say whichever word is banned _regardless_ of any protective enchantments, etcetera… truly, the only thing powerful enough to protect against one would be a Fidelius~ and even then the Secret Keeper should _really_ watch their language.”

 

“Oh, well alright then,” he hoped that that would pay off when they got back. _If_ they got back. “Speaking of, what happened to Dumbledo~er, _Dumbles_?”

 

“I’v’n’t a clue. There are many rumors as to what happened to him. Some say that they shipped him off to Azkaban~ obviously that’s not true~ then there are those that say he died… and then there are others that say that Master Grindelwald keeps him prisoner in his Manse.”

 

“Why’re they keeping it a secret?”

 

“Some may think that the way to end this all is to seek him out. I, however, disagree. The man was great, but not even he could take on all three Dark Lords.”

 

“So you don’t think that there’s any hope?”

 

“No. I believe you people are the hope, given that an alternate Dumbles sent you to this universe. I just don’t think that we’ll get much out of him, personally.”

 

.

 

“What happened to them?” Lily Luna frowned as she watched the two Black Brothers stalk into the eating area for dinner. They both looked… broken. One was sporting a broken arm and limping a bit, whilst the other was clutching the left side of his face intently and walking as though someone had kicked him where the sun didn’t shine. Personally, she hadn’t taken the time to get to know either of them well enough to really tell them apart. Who would? They looked near identical.

 

“Brotherly love,” her own brother shrugged.

 

“You and James don’t do that.”

 

“In front of you, no. When you’re not around,” he shrugged. “It happens.”

 

“Who usually wins.”

 

“Who do you think?”

 

“James.”

 

“Now I’m offended.”

 

“So you then?”

 

“Not quite. But I’m still offended.”

 


	7. Chapter 7

After everyone had _eventually_ completed their quests the eighteen all gathered around the room again and cast the books on top of one another.

 

There was a general frown as all of the books merged into one. What on earth could possibly be so important that _everyone_ was required to help?

 

 _Rescue Dumbledore_.

 

Ah. That made sense.

 

“But _how_ are we going to do this?” Hermione began. “There’s no possible way that all of our earlier quests haven’t tipped off the Three Dark Lords.”

 

“Not to mention that Grindlewald was supposedly a seer, he’d probably see this coming,” James joined in.

 

“Well, if Dumbledore says it’s doable, it’s doable,” Harry said, firmly. He had a great respect for the man, and nobody was going to shake that.

 

“I agree with Harry,” Ginny nodded. “Besides, we’ve got a _metamorphmagus_ on our side! We could get Teddy to disguise himself as You Know Who~”

 

“Uh, Ginny. It’s alright, this place is Fideliused and none of us are the Secret Keeper.”

 

“Old habits die hard, Ron. But like I was saying. We get Teddy to drop in, lure Grindlewald out, and BAM! We launch our attack! Albus, James, Lily, Potter, Sirius, Lupin and I can create a distraction while Harry, Ron and Hermione sneak into there with invisibility cloaks~”

 

“Why do we need _three_ people with invisibility cloaks?” Snape frowned.

 

“Because those three do everything together, and our best bet on obtaining any form of help from the powers that be is to assign them all to the same task. Anyhow, the rest of you can keep lookout, just in case Grindlewald realizes it’s not really, well, You Know Who.”

 

“We’ll need to find the location of his Manse though,” Potter thought aloud. “Perhaps Sirius and I ought to go out looking for it?”

 

“Good idea. If we don’t hear back from you in two hours we’ll send out a search team.”

 

“Alright,” Potter grabbed his best-friend’s hand, dragging him towards the door. “Let’s go.”

 

.

 

Regulus stared at the shower head in front of him for the umpteenth time. He could do this. He knew that he could do this. He heard somebody enter the room, then, after a few moments he heard their shower turn on. When it turned off again~ presumably so that the person could lather up~ Regulus heard footsteps coming awfully close to him. A muttered word and his shower stall was open. Freaking out, he turned around.

 

There was Severus Snape, wearing nothing but a towel, and dripping wet. It was neither a pleasant, nor unpleasant sight~ akin to the way one would feel seeing a sibling or close cousin in the same position.

 

“I’ve been watching you.”

 

“Because that’s not creepy at all,” Regulus snorted.

 

“I talked to Kreacher. I know what happened. I know that you’re experiencing a Death Memory… and I’m here to help you get over it.”

 

“How?”

 

“I’ll be here. In the stall, with you, while you shower.”

 

Regulus was painfully aware of the fact that he was buck-naked whilst Severus was at the very least _modest_.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because in our world I can only assume that with your stupid hard-headedness you decide to martyr yourself, meaning you drown to death… and I think that it would be beneficial if I were here to remind you that you’ll always have someone to pull you out… would’ve had someone to pull you out if you'd simply asked.”

 

“Th-thank you, Severus,” Regulus nodded, still finding himself unable to turn on the spray.

 

Severus muttered a quick spell under his tongue and the water turned on.

 

Regulus freaked out. He reached for the knob to turn it off, but Severus grabbed his hands to hold him back. He panicked, started sobbing and began to fall to his knees, trembling in a way that might cause him to slip and hurt himself. Severus held him close against his chest. Regulus clawed at the older man’s arms and struggled against him, knocking his towel a bit, but Severus held firm.

 

“Sssh. Sssh. You’re safe. They can’t hurt you in here, “ the man lowered them both to the floor in an unrelenting grip.

 

Once he’d calmed down a bit, Severus ran a hand through the younger male’s hair, soothingly. “There we go.”

 

“Th-thank you, Severus.”

 

“No need.”

 

Regulus blushed from the position he was in, sitting in between Severus’s legs with arms wrapped around him from behind. “Uh, Sev…”

 

But the man didn’t budge. “I’m not Rosier,” was all that he said.

 

.

 

“It’s this big mansion called ‘Stone Wall’, lots of hedges, very secretive,” Potter gesticulated. “It’s about an hour and a half north of here… come to think of it, most places aren’t all that far… huh, Dumbledore probably planned it like that.”

 

“Well, we ought to get a move on. Where’d Albus go?” Evans glanced around for her grandson.

 

“Where’s Scorpius?” come to think of it, Draco hadn’t seen his supposed ‘kid’, whom he was fighting with at the moment, for a while now.

 

“They’re probably snogging or something,” Lily whispered to Teddy, who barely contained his snigger.

 

“James’ve you seen your brother?” Harry called at his son-to-be. “Or the other Malfoy?”

 

“Nope!” _and I **really** don’t want to be the one to find them **again** … not after last time…_

 

 _Other Malfoy_ , Lupin noted. _No wonder Albus’s so scared to tell his father… he mentioned feelings of inadequacies before, but he must feel like this Harry is his second chance to impress his dad._

 

.

 

“Evan!” Mrs. Black cried, throwing her arms around her son-in-law. “Sweetheart! How are you?”

 

“I’m very well, Walburga,” he smiled at her, “And how are you?”

 

“Lovely, of course,” Walburga _adored_ her son-in-law. He was everything that she’d wanted in a son. Strong, handsome, smart, pureblood… she could’ve had that from the son-who-must-not-be-named… what a shame that he’d gone down chasing his own ideals… even more a shame that her second son had held no ideals of his own. “Where’s Regulus?”

 

“I actually came here to talk to you about that. He left for Canterburry nearly two weeks ago, and I haven’t heard from him since. I’ve asked Narcissa, but she hasn’t heard from him either. Neither’ve Barty, Bellatrix or Severus.”

 

“Well, neither have we… you-you don’t think,” Walburga felt sick. She couldn’t believe that her son, her good, moral son would… would have an _affair_!

 

Seeming to realize where her thoughts had run, Evan threw up his hands. “No! No, of course not! And besides, even if Regulus _did_ have a side-lover, I highly doubt that he would leave Zeta or Orion behind!”

 

That was true. Her son _loved_ his children. He’d never leave them.

 

“Now that you mention it though, that’s not the only odd thing that has happened,” Walburga hummed. “Our slaves have just-just _disappeared_!”

 

“So have Narcissa and Lucius’s,” Evan nodded. “And I’d say ours too, but, well, they had gone to accompany Regulus anyways, so they’re likely wherever he is.”

 

 _What if Regulus kidnapped the slaves,_ Walburga worried, _his devotion to the Dark Lord hadn’t been strong in ages and had only waned over time_.

 

But she couldn’t share those thoughts with Evan. Love Regulus as he might, there was no telling what he’d do with that information. She would have to investigate this further, but for now…

 

“We must send out a search-party. Perhaps a group of muggle-lovers kidnapped him to make a statement,” she lied, knowing full well that no force on the earth save for the Three Dark Lords and Severus Snape could take down her youngest.

 

“Perhaps… it’d certainly explain why the slaves had been freed. Thank you, Walburga,” Evan stood.

 

“Any time, son.”

 

.

 

Teddy’s disguise had worked and Hermione, Ron and Harry were in!

 

They rushed to the dungeons but found them empty.

 

“ _Revelio_!” Hermione cast. “Nothing! Urgh! He must’ve moved Dumbled~ _Albus~_ after Teddy got Ollivander out.”

 

“But where though?” Harry didn’t think that Grindlewald’d be the type to trust Azkaban, _especially_ given how they’d _just_ launched a massive escape from the prison.

 

“During the First Wizarding War, Grindlewald had this place, Nurmengard,” Ron piped up. “What’ve he’s keeping, uhm, _Albus_ there? It’s said that the place was never uncovered… seems like the perfect place to store someone valuable.”

 

“Ron, that’s brilliant!” Hermione beamed. “Was there ever a purported location or something?”

 

“No,” Harry remembered. “No there wasn’t… but given that You Know Who killed Grindlewald to use the Elder Wand, I’d probably have to say that it qualified as a piece of historic significance, and that our children would know.”

 

Ron wrinkled his nose. “Urgh, Harry! Don’t call them our _children_ , they’re our age!”

 

“Actually, Teddy’s older and everyone else is younger.”

 

.

 

“Nurmengard? Yeah, it’s one of the things we have to study in History of Magic. After the War they found it in some town in south Romania,” Rose nodded.

 

“We’ll head there tonight, under the cloak of darkness,” Potter turned. “We should all probably take a nap, Lils~ er, _Evans_ , could you set an alarm charm?”

 

The red-head nodded and cast one on a nearby clock.

 

“I’m going to go have a shower,” Sirius walked towards their sleeping chambers to grab his bag so he could _accio_ out some clothes.

 

“I think I’ll join you,” Remus grabbed his own bag to fish for clothes. “All we need are Peter and James and it’d be just like old times, ‘eh?”

 

“You say ‘old times’ like it wasn’t just two years ago,” Sirius rolled his eyes in mock-irritation at his adorable friend.

 

“Two years is a long time. I haven’t seen you guys in _months_!”

 

“Yeah, well… you’ve been taking an awful lot of quests recently, haven’t you?” Sirius faked a grin, unwilling to admit that until before this new adventure he’d thought Remus had been secretly conspiring with Voldemort to bring about the downfall of the Order.

 

“Yeah, well… I wish you guys could come on them…. Of course I do, but you know, _werewolf business_ …”

 

“We’re animagi.”

 

“That wouldn’t stop Fenrir from trying to tear you to shreds if he knew who you are. Werewolves don’t harm animals, sure, but that’s because they’re not generally _hunting_ for them.”

 

Remus opened the door to the showers and his eyes widened as at that exact moment, Severus and Regulus both popped out of the one stall, sopping wet and in towels.

 

“Merlin’s Bloody Balls!” Sirius swore.

 

Remus gulped and tackled his murderous friend to the ground, looking up. “ _Run_!” he shouted at them.

 

The two wasted no time exiting the bathroom.

 

“Bloody hell, Remus!” Sirius screamed, “Why did you do that?”

 

“You were going to _kill_ _him_!”

 

“Of course I bloody fucking was! That greasy git just had sex with my kid brother!”

 

“We don’t _know_ that!”

 

“OF COURSE WE DO! I _knew_ there was something going on there! You lied to me!”

 

“I didn’t know!”

 

“So you _admit_ there’s something!”

 

“I admit that you’re a lunatic and that we should at least _ask_ them why they were in the same stall!”

 

“What’s there to it!? We get back from a mission and those two, pent up on adrenaline start banging in the showers!”

 

Despite his own nagging doubts, Remus knew that he could not allow Sirius to think in that direction. If anyone of their teammates were to die, it would be whilst taking down the Dark Lord…s, not because of some stupid protective urge felt over a family member Sirius had supposedly ‘disowned’ and ‘felt nothing for.’

 

.

 

“You know, it’s getting pretty hard to cover for you,” James slouched down next to his brother. “You should tell him.”

 

“I know, but I’m scared. Lily says he called Scorpius the ‘Other Malfoy’ earlier today.”

 

“Yes, Albie, but you and I both know that he won’t properly be able to change his views on the Malfoys until there’s a connection between our families… preferably one started by you.”

 

“Me?”

 

“Well, you’re his favorite.”

 

“Am not! He loves you more! You’re his oldest, and are training to be an Auror. You’re better at magic than me and, most of all, you’re not a Slytherin.”

 

“OK, first of all it’s impossible for a parent to love one of their children more. _Like_ _more_ , yes, _love more_ , not so much. Secondly, that’s what he loves about you, you don’t stick to the norm. Besides, you’re forgetting one thing.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“You’re the only one of us who inherited his eyes. Sure I may have his physique, personality and hair, and Lily’s got his hands and wand wood, but you’re the one who looks like him the most. And I’m not saying our father is narcissistic, but it’s easier to see yourself in a kid who looks just like you. Trust me, he’ll see sense if you tell him. Worst comes to worst he’ll need like a day or two to recover from the shock, but he won’t hate you or anything. He doesn’t present day and he won’t now.”

 

“Present day dad’s had about twenty-five years to get over his issues with Mr. Malfoy.”

 

“Just trust me on this. Please?”

 

“OK, James.”

 

.

 

“Regulus… you and Severus aren’t, uhm, you know, ‘dating’, are you?” Remus nervously asked the younger male.

 

“No, why-? _oh_ ,” Regulus blushed. “Well, you can tell Sirius to ditch the disillusionment charm, he needs to work on it a bit more.”

 

Sirius appeared in the centre of the room, arms crossed and unimpressed. “Why were you two in that shower stall together?”

 

“Why does it concern you?”

 

“Just making sure my _baby brother_ isn’t two timing.” Remus winced. That was _not_ the right way to go.

 

“What? Scared I take after you more than we previously thought?” neither was that…

 

“Gryffindors are loyal, and here I was thinking _maybe_ you’d shed your snake skin.”

 

That _really_ seemed to piss Regulus off. “Gryffindors aren’t _loyal_ , you’re **_proud_** , there’s nothing admirable in that!”

 

Which ticked Sirius off.

 

Before Remus could stop him, Sirius had his wand out and was casting spell after spell at his brother who retaliated in the same fashion.

 

There was no clear-cut way to tell which brother would’ve won had they been left to duel, clearly both had an immense prowess due to both their ancestry and field work done during the war of their time, thankfully though, Remus didn’t have to find out.

 

“ _Immobulus_!” Snape cast at both brothers, freezing them in place. “Now, when I lift the spell, Lupin is going to escort Black out, and I will remove Regulus. Am I understood.”

 

Neither boy could move, but to Remus it did not seem as though either disagreed.

 

The spell was lifted and as Remus and Snape stared into each other’s eyes, a silent agreement was made: they are _not_ seeing each other until tomorrow.

 

.

 

“Scorpius,” Albus grinned at his long-time boyfriend.

 

“Al, hey!” the blonde grinned at him.

 

Albus heard footsteps approaching, as well as the telltale sound of his father’s footsteps approaching, as well as what sounded like Mr. Malfoy walking alongside Mr. Snape. _Go time_.

 

“You ready for this?”

 

“Ready to snog you in a manner which McGonnagal describes as ‘public indecency’? Always.”

 

“I’m telling you,” Mr. Malfoy gesticulated at Mr. Snape, “It was _terrifiying_ , and all because my ruddy father bogged up on~” he let out a gasp as he walked into the room where Ablus Severus _Potter_ was snogging _his_ to-be- _son_ in the centre of the common area like Scorpius was his oxygen supply and he was on life, and clawing at him as though he were trying to pull him into him.

 

“And then Mad-Eye~” Now the Potters gasped.

 

Albus and Scorpius broke away, barely containing their smirks.

 

Albus turned to his father… who had fainted, and Scorpius turned to his father… who was almost at the same state.

 

“You think we went a bit overboard?” Scorpius whispered into his boyfriend’s ear.

 

“More like not enough. Seriously, we haven’t really been hiding our flirting and yet we’ve been here two weeks and they haven’t noticed a _thing_!”

 

“So no more hiding?”

 

“Never again.”

 

“ _Fuck yes_!”

**Author's Note:**

> ~~I am so sorry~~


End file.
